Stupid Cupid
by EmaniaHilel
Summary: Chaptered - When one of Raven's deepest, darkest secrets is revealed, havoc ensues. Hopefully, this will involve a lot of romance, a little jealousy, and at least some comedy. The pairing is eventually going to be a triangle... Chapter 14!
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Yes, this is the infamous story I kept talking about writing. Puck had inspired me to a bunch of the meat of this one, but hadn't given me a beginning until about a week ago. Then, what I had to do was sort of merge the beginning with what I had. I'm going to be doing that for a bit still. I have, in total, about 31 pages worth of writing for this story...

...just...not all of it in chronological order.

I wanted to post this beginning at least before I go off for the bar. I've organized chronologically and consecutively, about 16 pages worth. (Course, it increases with making things fit, if that makes sense). I plan on posting at least through Chapter 2 before I go away for the Bar Exam which is next Monday. I'll probably post one chapter a day until I get there.

I'm also planning on at least starting to post **_Estranged_** before Monday too, since it's a gift for **_Kysra_**'s birthday and her birthday is Monday and considering I'm going to be on a plane on Monday, I can't wait to post it on that day itself. So...all in all, you guys have two new stories to bear with, er...I mean, look forward to from me.

I've been trying to work on Instinct 2, I really have.

Not beta'd

**Disclaimer:** Standard disclaimers apply.

**Special Warning:** Raven is going to act VERY out of character in this Prologue and through the next chapter too. She'll go back to acting _mostly_ normal in later chapters, but she is going to be pushed to sort of act outside of her zone of comfort, so if you can't deal with that, then, 'see-ya'. Thanks for stopping by and giving me a chance.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Prologue: Protection  
**__**by Em**_

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"_I'll stand in front of you / I'll take the force of the blow / Protection"  
_- Protection, Massive Attack

What the Doctor found when he finally entered the room was certainly _not_ what he had expected to find.

"Why is our captive not in pain and screaming!" he demanded, smacking the nearest lackey just for good measure.

Lackey 1 (for the Doctor never knew their names) looked at him sheepishly. "As soon as she woke up, she just closed her eyes again and started floating and we can't wake her up for nothing."

"I am surrounded by idiots," the Doctor declared. "And what are you doing to wake her up?" he asked with considerable patience. "Shaking her?"

Lackey 2 shook his head emphatically. "Nuthin' we do works, Dr. Chang!" he assured him. "Watch," he said, turning back to their captive. He pulled back his hand and released it to smack painfully hard across her left cheek. She jerked from the force of the blow, but never so much as flinched. "It's like she doesn't even feel it," he said, awed and somewhat frightened.

"And lookit dis," Lackey 1 added, approaching the petite girl with a scalpel in his hand. He slowly cut her cheek, a thin stream of red blood welling in the wound and overflowing down her cheek but before anything more than a few drops of blood could escape, the wound healed itself, the open skin literally pulling itself together right before their amazed eyes. Within a few moments, all that was left of the wound was the trail of blood drying on her cheek and some of it dripping off her chin.

Dr. Chang approached carefully, his face twisting into a form of respect and awe, "Clever girl..." he mused aloud. "She's put herself into a trance...a healing one apparently."

"How do we get her out of it, then?"

Chang, close enough to see whether or not she was breathing, suddenly realized that the titanium shackles he had ordered put on her wrists and ankles were lying uselessly on the floor under her. He scuttled backwards awkwardly until he was at least a few feet away from her and pointed at her, "WHY ISN'T SHE MANACLED!" he yelled, his voice going squeaky and high.

Both Lackeys looked at each other. "Well...she's so outta it..."

"Manacle her now!" he demanded.

Lackeys 1 pushed Lackey 2 and so Lackey 2 walked up to the girl and began the process of putting her in the restraints. "I dunno why we need to go through so much trouble...she's not even stopping us when we..."

Lackey 2 stopped talking as a hard metal instrument hit him in the back of the head, "She is a Teen Titan, you fool!" he exclaimed. "Never underestimate them!"

"So, what do we do to wake her up, boss?" Lackey 1 asked when Lackey 2 was done putting her in the restraints.

"Whatever you have to," Dr. Chang insisted. "What is the use of having gone through all the trouble to capture Raven of the Titans and to drug her if we cannot wake her up to ask her any questions?"

Lackey 1 nodded and, cracking his knuckles, approached Raven while Lackey 2 retreated to look for some tool they might use to wake her up. Without waiting, Lackey 1 pulled back and punched Raven right in the nose. He heard it crack and then he saw the bones under her flesh begin to reshape themselves.

"Perhaps if you are repetitive, she will be unable to retain her trance." Lackey 1 looked at Dr. Chang in confusion, so Dr. Chang sighed. "Hit her...a lot."

Lackey 1 grinned and pulled back, getting off one open handed smack and one back handed smack in quick succession before pulling back to repeat the process. Just before he brought his hand back down to try a punch across the jaw, he felt a sharp pain across his hand and travel up his arm. He pulled it close to his body and looked around for the source of the pain.

Only to find Robin approaching with deadly calm, a birdarang held between thumb and forefinger, ready to throw. "Do that again," he demanded, his tone so calm it sent shivers of warning up Lackey 1's spine. All the while, Robin continued to step closer to them. "Please."

Lackey 1 was not stupid, so when Lackey 2 attempted to move toward Raven and was smacked with a birdarang across the cheek, he decided he wasn't paid enough to tussle with a pissed off Robin who looked like he wanted nothing more than to have a reason to bust them up good. So, although he made a sudden move, it was only to run away.

A move Lackey 2 was smart enough to emulate.

Robin watched them go for a split second before tossing a net bomb at Dr. Chang before he could even consider running. Chang was enveloped and tangled in the net before he could let out a yelp.

In the next moment, Robin was standing before Raven, putting a hand gently on her cheek where the bruises that had blossomed from the Lackey's blows was already healing. The moment his finger grazed her chin, Raven's eyes popped right open, the dark purple of her irises never going back to their regular size even though she blinked at him a few times.

"Raven?"

She fell right out of her floating position and only his arms around her stopped her from hitting the floor. She raised her hands, shackles and all, to touch his cheek, as if to convince herself he was real. When he didn't disappear, she smiled brilliantly at him, "I knew you'd come," she whispered.

"Always," he confirmed, helping her to stand. She wobbled and fell on her butt on the concrete ground.

She looked surprised for a moment before she let out a brief bark of laughter. "I just fell on my ass!" she exclaimed.

Robin didn't want to find that funny, but he couldn't help but devote at least five seconds to how cute it was to see Raven so amused. "What did you give her?" he demanded of Chang.

"Thiopental sodium," Raven answered, watching him as he went about removing her shackles.

"Truth Serum?" Robin asked, turning to Raven. He did a quick visual scan of her. Her pupils were still dilated, her attention seemed to waver and she did seem much more relaxed than she ever did.

She nodded, "Yep," she said, grinning as he freed her wrists. "He wanted to ask me questions...he wanted me to tell him my secrets."

"Robin, come in," came Cyborg's voice from his communicator.

Raven smiled, "Cy's here!" she exclaimed.

Robin flipped open his communicator, "I've got Raven," he told him. "Beast Boy, Starfire, Chang's Lackeys escaped, one went east the other west, find them and take them to the police, Cyborg I need you here."

"Got it," they confirmed before the communication shut off.

"You have spiky hair, boy blunder," Raven declared as Robin had his head lowered while he worked on the shackles at her ankles.

He grinned and tried to hide it, "Yes, so I do," he confirmed.

"I like it better down," she said seriously.

He looked up at her and met her eyes. She smiled at him and reached up to touch his hair, but came across only the spikes. "See?" she told him, lowering her hand. "Can't touch it when it's spiky."

Before Robin could answer, the door to the warehouse burst open and Cyborg rushed inside, ready for anything.

"Cyborg!" Raven exclaimed, grinning and waving at him. "Look, Spiky, Cyborg's here!" she told Robin.

Cyborg practically fell on his ass in surprise. "Uh...hi?" he offered, turning a confused eye to Robin. "Huh?" he asked.

"Chang gave her truth serum," Robin explained.

"Damn," Cyborg cursed, then turned back to Raven who was playing with Robin's cape between her fingers and snorted in laughter. "Although she does look kinda cute so relaxed," he admitted.

"Can you stand?" Robin asked Raven.

Raven's expression turned serious and pensive. "I don't know," she finally decided.

Robin smiled just a little and rephrased his question. "Do you want to try to stand?" he asked instead.

Raven thought about that too for a moment before nodding, "Yes, I do."

Cyborg snickered and Robin swallowed his laughter.

It took her a moment, but even in her drugged state, she made a connection and turned to him, eyes wide with realization, "Maybe I should try to stand now?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, I think you should."

She grinned, "Okay." Her expression then turned focused and determined as she leaned heavily on his arm and started to push herself into a standing position. She got about halfway upright before her knees gave out under her and she started to fall back toward the ground. Robin held her up and she giggled, "Oops," she said. "Guess I can't."

Raven didn't realize that she was letting Robin take all her weight and actually would've been quite content to sit back on the ground, but Robin didn't seem inclined to let her.

"Cyborg," Robin said, his tone all business again. "Can you take her?"

Cyborg stepped up to them and Raven was transferred to Cyborg's arms where he lifted her up easily. She giggled. "Howdy," she told him.

"Howdy yourself," Cyborg said.

"Take her to the T-Car and head home," Robin ordered.

"What about you?" Cyborg asked.

Robin motioned where Chang was still waiting wrapped up in sticky netting. "I've got something to take care of here first."

Cyborg looked at him for a moment before Raven chuckled, "Oooh...Chang's in trouble!" she exclaimed.

"For hurting you, you bet," Cyborg confirmed, walking her out of the warehouse as Robin stepped toward the bound Chang.

"Bai!" Raven exclaimed. She turned to Cyborg and grinned, "I'd always wanted to say, 'howdy'," she told him as if their previous conversation hadn't been interrupted.

Cyborg nodded as he led her to the car, "It's a good word," he confirmed.

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**A/N:** I know you guys can probably know what the pairing for this is going to be, but remember the title...the pairing _is_ subject to some change and/or modification... ((wicked chuckle)) By the time Chapter 3 comes around, you'll get the drift, I promise.

So, whaddya think? Worth it to keep posting? 'Course, the main story plot hasn't been revealed yet. This prologue is just setting up HOW she got into the predicament in the first place.


	2. Chapter 1: Truth Serum

**EDIT:** Thanks to **_ClockworkStarlight_** who said she had expected Beast Boy's questioning to take a different route, I added one more question from Beast Boy. Thanks, CS! I think the chapter's more complete now.

**A/N:** I am amazed and honored by the response to the Prologue I got from you guys. Wow. I don't think I've had such an immediate welcome to a chapter of a new story, probably ever. Thanks. Of course, now the problem is that you guys have made such valid and intriguing assumptions as to what's going to be happening in the story, I'm afraid of letting you down.

I've got through Chapter 2 ready to post, folks, so expect another chapter tomorrow. Then, I probably won't get you another one until Thursday of next week at the earliest. (Unless I'm bad and work on more of this instead of studying for the bar, which is entirely possible)

**Thanks:** Look for the individual thanks on my 'emsscraps' journal.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 1: Truth Serum  
**__**by Em**_

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"_Truth serum is in your veins / you're saying things I can't explain..."  
_- Truth Serum, Dishwalla

Later, after they had picked up Starfire and Beast Boy from the police station, Beast Boy was still trying to wrap his head around this notion of a truthful, relaxed Raven.

"Wait, does that mean you have to tell the truth no matter what's asked?" Beast Boy tried to verify for himself.

Raven nodded, "Yes," she answered, her eyes up on the roof of the T-Car. "I never noticed the roof was blue, Cyborg," she said seemingly out of the blue. She looked at him, moving her head as if half the muslces in her neck were starting to go out, "It's a good color."

"And apparently sometimes if she isn't asked," Cyborg mused. To her, he smiled. "Thank you."

"Can we please go back to the fact that we now have a chance to ask Raven anything we want to ask her and she'll tell us the truth?" Beast Boy asked excitedly.

"Sure," Raven answered, looking at her hand as if she'd never seen it.

"Beast Boy..." Cyborg said warningly.

"What?" Beast Boy said defensively. "It's not like I'm going to ask her to spill her deep dark secrets, but tell me none of you guys ever wished you could ask her things she might not answer normally anyway?"

"I have," Starfire admitted, pulling Raven's hands away from the buttons that would enable the emergency eject from the back seat.

"I haven't," Cyborg said.

"C'mon, Cy..." Beast Boy said disbelievingly.

Cyborg shook his head, but couldn't help wondering, "Like what would you ask her?"

BB shrugged, " I don't know, like...Hey Raven!" he called, obviously having come up with something. Raven's head lolled to the side as she tried to look up at the mention of her name. Beast Boy whistled, "Yoo-hoo, Rae!" he called again, she finally managed to open her eyes and look blearily at him.

"What?" she asked, her words slightly slurred.

"Is your hair naturally purple?" he asked.

She looked confused by his question, "O'course tis," she answered. "Psh...why wouldn't it...like I'd...dye..." she trailed off, mumbling.

They laughed.

"See? I guess it does work," Cyborg said looking back at her through the rear-view mirror.

"Oh!" Beast Boy practically jumped up and down in the seat until Cyborg flicked him and he stopped, "How about this one: Raven?"

Raven looked up at him, "That's me."

Beast Boy grinned, "Do you think I'm funny?" he asked expectantly.

She scoffed. "Only when you're not trying to be," she admitted.

Beast Boy frowned and visibly deflated which made Raven erupt in raucous laughter. "See?" she said, pointing to him. "Hilarious."

Beast Boy looked from Cyborg to Starfire and finally back to Raven, all of them laughing, "Hey, that's not funny."

Raven nodded, her attention once again drawn to some speck of something on her pants, "Oh, yes it is."

"Oh, let me try!" Starfire chimed, "Raven?" she shook her a little where she was holding onto her waist to keep her mostly vertical in order to get her attention.

Raven's head lolled again and she turned it _mostly_ in Star's direction. "Yes?" she asked.

"What do you think about me?" Star asked, smiling a bit.

Raven's face broke into an immediate if watery, smile, "You're like the sister I never had..." she answered seriously, then frowned. "Annoying as hell, but un'voidably lovable."

The car around them erupted into laughter. Star grinned, accepting Raven's response for its true meaning and ignoring the bad part the way she was wont to do.

"You are like a sister to me, too!" Starfire exclaimed joyously. "We should perform the Tamaranean Ritual of Bonded Sisterhood!" Starfire exclaimed. Raven looked confused, as if she were trying to think of something but couldn't quite figure out what. "Would you like that?" Starfire asked before she could think about it, not really thinking to get the truth serum induced response.

Raven frowned and pulled a face, "Not if it involves any Tamaranean pudding..." she let her tongue extend out of her mouth and made a disgusted sound.

"Oh yeah, she's telling the truth alright," Beast Boy laughed.

The T-Car's communication system beeped and when Cyborg pressed the button to open the communication, Robin's helmeted face appeared as he rode the R-Cycle. "Hey, Rob, did you take care of business?" Cyborg asked.

Robin looked determined, "Yes," he answered.

Cyborg met Robin's gaze for a moment before tightening his hands on the steering wheel, "Good."

"Where was Robin, anyway?" Beast Boy asked from the front seat.

"Punishing Dr. Chang for being mean to me!" Raven answered certainly from the back seat.

Robin smiled just a bit, "That's right."

Beast Boy looked from one to the other and thought of another question to ask, "Hey, Raven," he called conversationally. Raven looked at him expectantly. "What would you want to do to Chang for being mean to you?" he asked.

"I'd boil him in oil and use his fried carcass to feed the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal,"(1) she answered seriously.

"Oookay..." Beast Boy mused.

"Alright guys, that's enough," Robin spoke up. "You know she wouldn't like knowing you guys took advantage of this situation."

"You're such an old fart, Robin," Beast Boy whined.

Raven laughed, "Old fart..." she agreed.

"Hey!" Robin called, "I'm trying to help you here!"

Raven stuck out her tongue in the general direction of the screen where Robin's face could be seen and made a "PFT" noise before laughing some more.

"It seems she must be truthful even with her emotions," Starfire announced.

"I'd say this is Happy," Beast Boy pointed out.

Raven laughed and brought her finger up to her nose and attempted to tap it, hoping to perform the typical 'on the nose' sign but she couldn't seem to get the coordination in order.

"She's probably unable to hold them back in her current state," Robin mused.

Raven was lifting her hand and mimicking a yapping mouth, making fun of Robin, "JIJI!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"What?" Beast Boy asked, unable to stop from grinning at the funny way she was acting.

"What did she say?" Robin asked.

"I think she called you a 'jiji'?" Cyborg said on a question.

"Jiji?" Robin thought, "I think that's Japanese for old man."

"Great, she's being silly in different languages," BB said laughing.

"How many languages does Raven speak?" Cyborg asked, honestly curious.

"'Bout ten," Raven piped up from the backseat where she was trying to look at something on her shirt, "And..." she looked at her hands, blinking at her fingers, trying to count, "...four Azatian..." she frowned, realizing that didn't sound right, "Azarthian..." she frowned harder, "Ath...Azarth..." she swallowed and looked at Starfire, frustrated, "Thas diff'cult to say!" she exclaimed.

"Azarathian?" Starfire tried for her.

Raven grinned and pointed at Starfire, "Thas it!"

"Dude! She knows ten languages?" BB asked.

Apparently deciding that the question was not directed at her, or that it sounded too much like a statement, Raven was back to investigating her shirt, "I hate this shirt,"she declared under her breath. She pulled on it until it was tented over her chest in front of her.

"Raven, what are you doing?" Starfire asked watching Raven struggle.

"Gettin'oudda..." she went on mumbling, flailing arms which Starfire had to duck and squirming one way or another on the backseat.

"Raven, I don't think that's such a good idea," Cyborg called back, taking a guess at what she wanted to do.

"But this is a _horrible_ shirt!" she declared, getting her coordination straight enough to tuck one arm back inside the shirt through the sleeve.

"Tell me she isn't doing what I think she's doing?" Robin called out.

"JIJI!" Raven called, stopping her ministrations enough to grin in the direction of Robin's voice. "Where are you?" she asked, looking around suspiciously. She turned to Starfire questioningly. "Isn't that a great word?" Raven asked, suddenly. "JIJI!" she giggled and sighed as if it was too much effort to laugh, she looked at Starfire, "It's funny."

Starfire found herself giggling along with her, "Indeed it is!" she agreed.

Raven nodded, "JIJI!" she said again, laughing, "Say it with me, Star! JIJI!"

Star giggled, "JIJI!" she added.

"Oh, great, now the other one's gone!" Cyborg said, smiling despite himself. "Relax, Rob," Cyborg added, seeing the look of concern on Robin's face. "She's just acting drunk, and it's probably like you said, just her other emotions coming up because she can't hold them back." He looked at Raven. "Isn't that right, Rae?"

Raven nodded and grinned brightly at him, "We were scared, but then you saved us so now we're happy!"

Robin took his sight away from the com while he navigated some traffic a few blocks ahead of them, "Well, just keep an eye on her," he said, looking back, "We don't want any of the darker ones to come out, right?" he asked.

"JIJI!" both Starfire and Raven exclaimed from the backseat.

Robin rolled his eyes, but smiled a little himself at the sight.

Suddenly, Raven eeped and all eyes went back to her.

"What is it?" Robin asked immediately. "What happened."

Raven looked about ready to cry, "I can't find my arm!" she exclaimed worriedly, looking at the sagging sleeve of her shirt. Before she could succumb to hysteria, she frowned, "_Nasty_ shirt..." she mumbled again.

Cyborg laughed, "It's under your shirt, Rae," he told her.

Using her other arm, she grasped the bump under her shirt and smiled in relief, "Naughty thing..." she mumbled to her arm, trying to reach into the sleeve to grab it.

Starfire helped her out and she smiled gratefully at her.

"Star!" she exclaimed as if she had just noticed her presence.

Beast Boy turned to Robin and noticed the look of worry on his face. "Aw, c'mon, Robin, ease up!" Beast Boy smiled. "She's among friends, she's okay...I mean, it's not like we're asking her anything really serious anyway!" he said. His eyes took on a look of mischief. "Yeah, it's not like we're asking Raven," he paused as he saw her head turn to him at the mention of her name, "anything like if she has any embarrassing secrets or anything."

Robin narrowed his eyes but he couldn't see Raven nodding from the backseat. "I won't stop her from killing you if you make her say something she'll regret later," he warned.

Beast Boy was about to reply, when Raven's chuckle cut him off.

"Sure do," her voice answered and he heard that.

"Beast Boy!" Robin warned.

"And even if we asked _Raven_," he made sure to say her name with enough force that she looked at him again, "we would never say, 'What is that secret?'"

"Don't answer that!" Robin exclaimed, nearly crashing his bike into a stopped bicyclist.

Raven closed her mouth and shrugged.

"Aw, darn it, Robin!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "It's not like I said, 'Raven, do you have the hots for anyone?' or anything."

"Sure do," Raven announced casually.

"You do?" Beast Boy looked surprised.

"Yes," she answered automatically.

"Wh..." Cyborg's hand clamped over Beast Boy's mouth stopped him from asking.

"Dude, B," Cyborg said sternly, "Cut it out...that's Raven's personal stuff and we have no right..." he told him seriously, "We'd be no better than the people who took her if we did that."

Beast Boy frowned and lowered his head, "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just thought she's so closed off most of the time...maybe this might help her loosen up."

Cyborg pulled up in the garage and exited the car to open up the backseat and carry Raven to the med lab. Robin was already there and was obviously not pleased.

"I'm going to give you some of this stuff," Robin told Beast Boy as he exited, "And ask you whether or not you have a crush and see if you like it."

Beast Boy flushed.

Cyborg meanwhile, had helped Raven out of the car and carried her easily into his arms. She smiled a bit sadly at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey there, handsome," Raven said tiredly as her head lolled to rest on his shoulder.

"Hey there yourself," Cyborg replied as he started to walk her to the med lab.

She seemed considerably more subdued. "Do you think there's a Tameranean Ritual of Bonded Brotherhood?" Raven asked, her eyes closed.

"I don't know," Cyborg answered as he walked. "Why do you ask?"

"If Star's my sister, you're my brother," she said simply, "Just wondering whether we could do one ritual for two siblings, yanno?"

Cyborg squeezed her a little closer to his chest in response and nuzzled the top of her head with his chin, "I know," he answered, "But hey girl, you know we don't need no ritual to tell us that, right?"

She smiled and exhaled. "Be nice if you really were, though."

"Ditto, Dark Girl," Cyborg answered as he placed her in the infirmary bed.

"Vic," she said as he started to pull away.

He looked back at her, "Yeah?"

"Tie me down," she said, her voice drained of emotion, even more drained than normal.

"Are you okay?" he asked automatically.

"Just Happy's tired..." she said honestly, "Dunno who's next."

And he remembered that throughout it all, the Raven they knew was still in there somewhere.

"No need to tie you up, girl, I'll be here," he told her, not wanting to put restraining straps on her, hating the way they made her look so small.

"You won't be able to stop her if she comes," Raven's voice answered.

"Don't worry," Cyborg told her, "Just sleep it off."

"Okay," she conceded, shifting a little and resting her head on its side. Within no time, her breath had regulated in sleep and it wasn't until then that Robin entered the room.

"Did she say anything else?" Robin asked.

"She said I should tie her up," Cyborg told their leader. "She was afraid the other one might show up, but she's asleep now." Cyborg looked sideways at Robin, "I don't want to put her in restraints."

Robin patted Cyborg's shoulder, "Neither do I, Cy, and I don't think it'll be necessary...we'll keep watch."

Cy nodded and settled into a chair for the night.

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**Notes:**

(1) Defined by the "Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" as, "a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you—daft as a brush, but very, very ravenous". (Book by Douglas Adams) You can find more information on the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast and on Hitchiker's Guide through here: en . wikipedia . org / wiki / TheHitchhiker 27 s Guide to the Galaxy

**A/N:** Okay, so reading through your reviews for the Prologue, I realized a few things I hadn't planned. For example:

(1) I hadn't planned on explaining how Dr. Chang got a hold of Raven. Frankly, it wasn't important to me. I just wanted to use Chang to give her the Truth Serum. BUT...if it's important to you guys and you want to know, I suppose I could make it a point to explain it in some later chapter?

(2) At least one of you have guessed at the other side of the triangle. I'll spoil you now by telling you that I was surprised at your guess. I hadn't even assumed someone might consider that, although, I see why you would think so now that you pointed it out. Well, I think it isn't really a spoiler since Chapter 1 probably already dispelled that.

Anyone still want to guess at who the third side of the triangle is?


	3. Chapter 2: Matchmaker

**A/N:** So, hopefully, you guys now know that Cyborg is not the third part of the triangle. It caught me a bit by surprise when a few of you guys thought that it was him, mostly because I had already written the 'sibling' part of Chapter 1 so in my head they felt like brother/sister and I didn't see how what came out in the Prologue might've been interpreted as romantic interest. Heheh...

Anyway, in this chapter, you'll start to see who the third side is and by Chapter 3 you'll realize why the story's called "Stupid Cupid".

Still not beta'd.

About this chapter: You guys suspected, I hope, that Beast Boy wasn't going to let things alone...right?

**Thanks:** Check out 'emsscraps'

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__**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 2: Matchmaker  
**__**by Em**_

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"_Matchmaker, Matchmaker / make me a match."  
_- Fiddler on the Roof

Raven decided, as she tried to tune out Beast Boy's annoying repetitiveness, that despite her considerable creativeness where punishments were concerned, she couldn't think of one that was adequate enough to submit Dr. Chang to.

Oh, the bruises his lackeys had given her had faded, the cuts had healed, and within a few hours of falling asleep on the medlab bed, she had awoken refreshed and without so much as a headache. However, the consequences of her foray with truth serum was felt in a much more lasting and annoying manner.

"C'mon Raven, just tell me!" Beast Boy insisted for the umpteenth time.

Raven had stopped answering him hours ago, but he just continued asking, hoping no doubt, that he would wear her down.

"Maybe I can help you?" he tried to sound cajoling.

Raven considered teleporting to another dimension, but she knew that if she avoided him, he'd just keep asking when he saw her again, and she couldn't permanently disappear. She had to hunker down and bear it until he ran out of steam or something else took his interest. Or he just gave up. That was always something to look forward to.

"I can help you, you know, give you tips or tell you what he likes..."

"What makes you think you know him, whoever it is?" Starfire asked as she entered the room.

Raven just barely withheld a sigh. Now Starfire was getting into it. She didn't know how much more of this she could take.

"How many guys does Raven meet enough to crush on?" Beast Boy asked in what he was sure was logically.

_'Maybe I could make _him_ disappear?'_ Raven considered.

"Perhaps she crushes the Johnny Dipp or someone she has never met at all?" Starfire asked pensively.

"Depp, Star," Beast Boy corrected humorously.

"Depp?" she asked.

"It's Johnny Depp, not Johnny Dipp," Beast Boy explained.

Starfire smiled brilliantly, "He is most attractive."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Raven doesn't crush on movie stars, that would be 'pointless'," he said in a decent imitation of her deadpan. "It's gotta be someone she knows," he insisted.

_'No,'_ she decided, _'Robin would hate having to find a replacement...'_

"Perhaps it is Aqualad?" Starfire offered.

Raven stopped her considerations of escape and considered another option. Maybe the best plan of action was to give them a name?

"Nah," Beast Boy dismissed. "He asked her out months ago and she said no."

Raven winced, '_How does he know that?'_ she wondered.

"He asked if he could join her on her trip to the bookstore," Cyborg added as he too entered the room. "He did not ask her out."

Raven gaped. Did everyone know her business?

"Whatever," Beast Boy said dismissively. "If she would've been crushing on him, she would've wanted him to go with her, wouldn't she?"

Raven sighed and the sound drew Beast Boy's attention again. A name would shut him up, she decided. But then it'd become about teasing her with the name or gods forbid, helping her. Gods save her from her teammates playing Cupid.

"I know you can hear me, Raven, and if you just tell us who it is you're crushing on, we'll know and I swear that I won't do anything if you don't want me too..." he wheedled.

Perhaps a name of someone they wouldn't get a chance to play matchmaker with? Someone that was easy going enough that her teammates couldn't bug with vague insinuations or whatnot. Someone conceited enough to not take it to heart if he heard that some girl had the hots for him?

"Plus, it's not like you couldn't use the help, cause you know you're not the best at..."

Something inside her broke and she slammed the book on her lap shut with a loud snap. Even Robin who had just entered the room jumped in surprise at her sudden action. In the sudden silence and stillness, she turned a glare at Beast Boy. "It's Speedy, _alright_?" The steely calm of her voice belying how very close to the end of its tether her temper actually was. She raised a finger to point at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "And if you say one word about it to him or anyone else, I swear to all the Gods of Azarath that your ancestors will feel the pain I'm going to inflict on you."

Everyone was floored. Both at her finally breaking and telling him and the fact of her choice.

"SPEEDY!" three out of five Titans exclaimed in perfect unison.

Raven scowled and lowered her head back to her book, trying once again to ignore them. Retreat wasn't an option, she knew -- they'd just keep following her.

"You've got the hots for the red-headed carrot top?" Cyborg found his voice first, his face contorting into a very worried, not at all happy frown.

"That conceited attention hound?" Beast Boy spoke up.

She shrugged, "So sue me, I like a guy with nice..." she trailed off and flushed, hunching deeper in front of her book.

"Oh no, now you've gotta finish that!" Beast Boy demanded.

She glared at Beast Boy, "Hands," she finished pointedly, daring him with her expression to question her further.

Beast Boy looked at Cyborg who was pacing back and forth from one end of the room to the other, "Dude, can you believe this?"

In answer, Cyborg shook his head, looking for only he knew what in different storage areas around the common room of the Tower, finding tools that must serve a purpose in his head, but not to the rest of them. "Dude?" Beast Boy asked. "This is no time to go off fixing things!"

Cyborg glanced at him and there was a determination in his eyes that halted Beast Boy's further protests, "How _dare_ that skinny-assed redheaded stepchild be the object of my little Raven's affection!" Cyborg asked, turning back to searching through the tool kit next to the kitchen, "I'll break 'im in two, snap 'im in half like a fuckin' carrot stick, the little…" he went off, mumbling the rest of his threat unintelligible under his breath.(+)

Raven glanced up at Cyborg, and wondered whether or not he might do something drastic. When he laughed in triumph, removing a weird looking tool out of the box before standing and walking out of the room, she thought it best to let him deal with the situation on his own. He wasn't talking to her, after all. If he wasn't talking to her, she didn't need to answer. Right?

Somewhat off to the side and behind them, Robin was so silent he was going unnoticed. Which was a good thing, because he wouldn't want anyone to notice how he was turning his own hands palm out and was staring at them. _'What exactly is _nice_ as far as hands are concerned?'_ he wondered.

"What is wrong with Raven 'having the hots' for friend Speedy?" Starfire asked, turning from one to the other, "It is glorious that she has found someone whom she finds attractive and who she would like to share Whoopislcatch (1) with."

"Whoopislcatch!" Cyborg demanded having suddenly returned to the room to apparently search for some other tool, and everyone remembered at about the same time that Cyborg had learned how to speak Tamaranian, "Oh, _hell_ no!" he told Star, "I'll snap that little fucker straight in half, he lays one damn pretty hand on her…" (+)

Raven looked at Cyborg, then to Starfire and quirked an eyebrow in confusion but before Star could explain, she shook her head, "Never mind, I don't think I want to know."

Starfire laughed. "Why are you not happy for our friend?" she asked the others.

"Because Speedy is such a..."

"Prat," Cyborg offered.

"...a..." Beast Boy continued searching.

"Punk," Cyborg continued to offer.

Beast Boy ignored him, snapping his fingers, searching for the word he was thinking about. "Eee..."

"Candy-ass," Cyborg once again spoke.

"E..." Beast Boy insisted, glaring at him.

"Little red-headed pimple!" Cyborg finished.

Beast Boy ignored him, "Ego...ego..." Beast Boy faltered with the word he was trying to use.

"Egotistical," Robin provided.

"Egotistical!" Beast Boy repeated, "player and totally not the type of guy any of us would picture Raven with."

"Who would you picture Raven with?" Starfire asked.

"Don't answer that," Raven intoned, eyes still on the novel although she hadn't turned a page, "I don't want to know the answer to that either."

"He's just loud and brash and not at all the kind that Raven would..." Beast Boy tried to reason.

"Yes, but it is her choice, is it not?" Starfire countered.

"Well..." Beast Boy started.

Annoyed, Raven closed her book and stood, reminding them all of her presence, "I _am_ here in the room, so I would appreciate it that if you insist on speaking about me as if I weren't in the room, you do it in a room where I really am not in," she said bitingly. "At least that way, I won't have to hear my name bandied about uselessly, alright?"

Star and BB looked sufficiently chastised, Robin still looked shell shocked and Cyborg looked worried. He took a few steps closer to her.

"Rae..." Cyborg began in the tone of voice he reserved for worried half-lectures and Raven looked at him, anticipating his intention.

"Look, I'm not in love with the guy or anything," she told him before he could continue. "I don't need you to tell me what a womanizing loudmouth he is,"she directed at Beast Boy, "you asked if I had a crush on anyone and you wanted to know who and it just so happens that I find Speedy very attractive, that doesn't mean I'd offer to beget his offspring or anything and it certainly doesn't mean I'd be willing to run off with him for a night of hot sex or anything else either..." she looked at each of them in turn, "All it means is that I'm a _mostly_ normal heterosexual girl who is attracted to the particular attributes of this one particular boy, so can we _please drop it...now_?"

"Alright," Cyborg, again, was the first to regain his speech.

"Consider it dropped," Robin spoke up, cool and casual as he walked into the kitchen.

"Drop what?" Starfire asked.

"The conversation," Cyborg explained, "meaning to stop having it."

"Oh," Starfire nodded, "I will 'drop it'," she confirmed. She grinned at Raven and winked conspiratorially before walking out of the room.

Cyborg raised a hand to Raven and quirked a brow, "But just for now, Dark Girl..." Cyborg told her, shaking his head as he walked out of the room, mumbling what sounded like, "I swear to god, he smiles at her too bright, I'll break those grabby pretty little fingers right off…"(+)

Which left only Beast Boy and when she turned to him, daring him to say one more word, he shrugged, "It's dropped...gone..." he said, shrugging and following Robin into the kitchen.

Raven sighed as her teammates continued with their regular routine, and she knew that the conversation was anything but dropped. The only thing she could hope was that her teammates didn't get any notions in their heads...

But she didn't think fate like her that much.

If she ever got her hands on Dr. Chang she'd show him _exactly_ what she thought of his truth serum.

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**Notes:**

(1) Made up Tamaranean word, but I'm sure you can guess at what Star is trying to say here.

(+) **_Absentia_** gave me these Cyborg moments. I used them almost exactly the way she provided them although I did move some of them around in location and altered for tense, etc.

**A/N:** So, nobody except the person who had originally suggested about me explaining how Dr. Chang got a hold of Raven mentioned that they wanted to see an explanation of how he got her. And me and the person who had originally suggested the explanation agreed that any explanations in that regard are superfluous, so unless you guys disagree and tell me so, that aspect of the story won't be explained.


	4. Chapter 3: Enter Cupid

**A/N:** I'm so glad you guys are liking this story so far! I wasn't going to upload this one until I got back from the exam, but I was stupid and worked on this instead of studying one night, and here you go, it's ready to be posted. I did NOT work on the next chapter, so you won't get that until Thursday the 27th at the earliest.

About this chapter: Well...what more can I say? Here, you'll see why the story's called "Stupid Cupid". Poor, deluded Raven...I think she maybe misjudged Speedy's character..._just a little_...

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 3: Enter Cupid  
**__**by Em**_

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"_Stupid Cupid / Stop pickin' on me!"  
_- Stupid Cupid, Patsy Cline (Re-released by Mandy Moore)

She couldn't have possibly imagined how very wrong things would go. And, as Murphy's Law dictates, anything that can go wrong will go wrong..._spectacularly_. (Okay, so maybe that was her own corollary's to the law, but it just so happened that it was perfectly adequate for the situation as it developed.)

As it happened, things would have gone wrong _anyway_ since Starfire got it in her head to help her friend with her case of the 'hots' and had decided to try out playing matchmaker. Although Star deciding to do such a thing might have been problematic enough, Raven hadn't been too worried considering that there was a good 900 miles between Jump and Steel Cities and the probabilities for Star to do any actual matchmaking was minimal. It had been that very distance that had been one of the major factors in Raven deciding on the archer in the first place.

However, fate, it seemed, had decided to pee in Raven's cheerios and wasn't content to wait for Starfire's clumsy attempts to get Speedy to the West Tower (or Raven to the East Tower, Star was not picky, although she did, of course, prefer to have Speedy in their home since then she could hope to aid her friend rather than let her go off alone). No, fate decided to take matters into its own hands, and, after a seemingly impossible string of situations, Speedy himself stood before the Titans' Tower in Jump City seeking entry not more than a week after Raven admitted her attraction to him and less than three days after Starfire decided to play matchmaker. ($)

Unfortunately for Raven, despite her rather dire threats of death and worse things should anyone say one word to Speedy while he was staying with them in the Tower, her friends did not fear her as much as they perhaps should and Speedy was not as clueless as she wished he might have been and after several days of beyond strange behavior from his co-Titans, Speedy was very obviously confused.

Not only was Raven acting strange around him, but it seemed that every time he came into the room where Raven and Starfire happened to be, the alien would react as if wherever she was sitting had electrocuted her and she couldn't get away out of the room fast enough. At first, Speedy thought maybe the alien girl had a crush on him and just didn't know how to react around him, but then she stood next to him when Raven came into the room on his third day there and practically took out one of his kidneys by elbowing him and pointing out Raven's entrance.

When she looked as if she was going to say something about it, however, things only became stranger the moment Raven met the girl's eyes which made the Tamaranian blush furiously before winking at him and walking hurriedly away, claiming some strange alien word as the excuse for her hasty departure.

"Is she going through some alien menstrual cycle or something?" Speedy asked, rubbing at his sore ribs after Starfire had left them.

Raven had shrugged nonchalantly and sat down with a thick book, studiously ignoring him.

As if that weren't bad enough, the moment he sat down next to Raven in order to try to get her to talk to him or figure out what was going on, Cyborg was suddenly in the room and calling him for help in the kitchen. Of course, that wouldn't have been so strange if it wasn't because when he got to the kitchen, all Cyborg did was give him what Speedy could swear was the evil eye before walking out of the kitchen with a plate of food, mumbling what sounded remarkably like, _"…break his mutha-effin' face…"_(+).

And although those were the strangest things that were happening, they were not by far, the only strange things happening in the West Tower. Beast Boy, for one, couldn't see him without breaking out in a hysterical fit of giggles which usually ended with him leaving the room. And Robin...well...Robin seemed more preoccupied than normal, or maybe he was just giving Speedy the cold shoulder, but Speedy couldn't for the life of him, figure out why.

Finally, after three days of living with this and trying to figure it out on his own, Speedy could take no more. When he found Raven sitting alone at the kitchen table one afternoon, he approached her to ask what the situation was, since she did seem the sanest of the batch. She was always quiet and reserved, after all. Granted, she hadn't been _as_ quiet and reserved with him in the last few months, but still, he had come to take moodiness as par for the course from Raven, so he figured she would be the best one to ask concerning the strange events. (He had tried to talk to Robin about it, but as soon as he had called out his name, Robin had replied that he had to go work out and left without further comment.)

Of course, as soon as he approached her at the table, Cyborg came into the kitchen and glared warningly at him, making comical gestures that he could only interpret to mean _'I've got my eye on you!'_ but he couldn't be sure. He glanced at Raven who glared at Cyborg and walked out of the kitchen. Cyborg followed her, seemingly about to speak and when Speedy started to follow, he turned around and pointed warningly at him.

"Cyborg," Raven said from halfway to the common room.

"What?" Cyborg asked defensively, as if he'd just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Beast Boy giggled and choked trying to stop it when Robin and Cyborg both glared at him and Starfire seemed oblivious to anything as she exclaimed, seemingly at the top of her lungs, "My, you look most stunning today, Raven!"

"Okay, that's it!" Speedy exclaimed, letting his arms drop exasperatedly at his sides. He glared at each of them in turn. "What the hell is going on around here?"

For a second, everyone was flustered at his outburst. Then, slowly, they started to look from one to the other, apparently trying to figure out who would say what.

Robin stood up and put the remote control aside, his face serious and determined as if he were about to discuss a critical mission. "How about you join me in the gym?" he asked, the first civil words he had spoken to Speedy since he'd gotten there.

"Alright," Speedy said, confused, but hoping joining Robin in the gym would produce some answers.

Raven, however, couldn't have Robin going off to have any sort of discussion with Speedy regarding the situation they all thought was going on. "Speedy," she called out, stopping him from going off with Robin. Speedy turned around to look at Raven and raised a brow in question. "Would you drive me into town?" she asked.

Speedy knew Raven didn't need anyone to drive her anywhere, but it was obvious she didn't want Robin to tell him whatever he was going to tell him. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but when he looked to Robin to see if the Boy Wonder would give him a reason _not_ to go with Raven and found him looking unemotionally at Raven, he shrugged, "Yeah, okay," he agreed. "Anything to get out of this kooky tower for a bit..." He motioned Raven to the elevator and walked after her, oblivious to the fact that she was glaring daggers at her friends as she went.

The ride into town was necessarily silent, as there was very little that could be said while hanging on for dear life on the back of a speeding motorcycle, but as soon as Raven signaled him to park along the park across from the cluster of shops and restaurants, he turned to her and waited.

She dismounted the bike and started walking toward a café with tables spread on the sidewalk in the warm spring sun.

"So..." Speedy asked as they walked alongside the park toward the café Raven had said she wanted to go to, "You want to tell me what's eating you guys?"

Upon their appearance, the denizens of Jump had, of course, prepared for the excitement of a fight. When nothing happened however and it was obvious the two teens were just strolling, most of them continued on their merry way, more or less accustomed to having the Titans walking about at the Pizza Parlor or Game Rooms or Mall so that it wasn't that strange to see two of them walking alongside the park, apparently heading to the cafe. Some did stare at them in awe, but the people of Jump were mostly able to restrain themselves from attacking them like giggling fans.

Oblivious to the valiant effort Jump City's residents made to giving them their privacy, Raven and Speedy walked on, involved in their conversation.

Raven glanced at Speedy, then looked away.

"Come on, Rae," he said, using the nickname he only ever used whenever they were alone together. "I know I don't know you as well as your friends do, but I think we've become pretty close these last few months..." he trailed off and when she didn't argue the point, he continued, "close enough for me to figure out that whatever the hell is going on with the rest of them, you're at the center of it..." he watched her wince almost imperceptibly and he grinned, "And you don't like it one bit."

Raven was suddenly wishing she might have chosen to give someone else's name. She knew Speedy was easy going enough to take what she was about to confess to in stride and the truth of the matter was, she did consider him enough of a friend so that she could explain to him exactly what happened and she knew he would accept it and not hate her or anything for getting him involved in this mess, but because she did know him, she knew he'd tease her about it mercilessly.

"I thought we had an agreement, huh?" Speedy asked teasingly when she still didn't seem inclined to speak. When Raven looked at him inquiringly, he shrugged, "Okay, so maybe it was an unspoken agreement, but I thought it was at least an understanding between us?"

She raised a brow, "What sort of understanding?" she asked, although she was pretty certain she knew to what he was referring.

He laughed, "That I didn't buy your act and you didn't buy mine."

The upper-left hand corner of her mouth lifted just slightly, "You mean how I don't buy that you're really as much of an air-head conceited jerk as you let on?"

He chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, exactly," he conceded. "Just like how I know you really feel and care a lot more than _you_ let on," he countered.

She sighed, the half-smile falling from her lips. She lowered her gaze to watch her feet as they walked. Maybe subconsciously she gave his name because she knew he'd understand and wouldn't judge her if she explained? She frowned, '_Of course,' _she thought, _'Just because he understands doesn't mean he still won't tease the hell out of me.'_

Squaring her shoulders, she looked up and met his gaze. "I have a rather embarrassing confession to make and once I do, you'll figure it out," Raven admitted.

"Oh no!" Speedy exclaimed in mock horror, "Is this one of _those_ confessions?" he asked playfully, "You're not going to tell me you're in love with me, are you?" he joked, hand on heart, eyes opened wide.

Raven scowled at him, "Please," she scoffed, then looked away again, "But..."

"Oh oh," Speedy said, dropping the frivolity once he read her discomfort. "What?" he prompted.

Taking a deep breath, Raven exhaled and spoke as calmly and as steadily as she could, "I kind of told the others that I had the hots for you," she answered.

Speedy laughed and then sobered as he realized she wasn't joking. "You..._what_?" he asked.

"Well, I don't really!" she assured him, still unable to meet his eyes.

"You don't?" he sounded disappointed, "Damn and here I thought I was going to get lucky today."

She glared at him, "Stop playing."

"What do you want me to say, Rae?" he said, laughing still, "Until you explain why you would do something like that if you don't really feel attracted to me, what _can_ I say?"

She sighed and proceeded to tell him the whole sordid story. He listened intently, interrupting only when he had to and when she was done, they walked in quiet for awhile.

"So, who's the real guy?" he finally asked.

"What?" she asked, surprised by his question.

"Well, it's not me, right?" he looked at her and raised his brows, "So, who is it?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

"Considering all the hell you've put me through these last few days, what with Starfire's matchmaking botch ups, Beast Boy's attempts at figuring me out and hysterical laughter whenever he saw us together, Cyborg's warning glares," Speedy stopped mid list and understanding dawned in his expression...so he _hadn't_ been imagining Cyborg murmuring things like, '_I'll fuck you up, man'(+)_ whenever he passed! He noticed Raven was quirking a brow, noting that he hadn't finished his sentence, and he shook his head and continued, "...and Robin's Antarctic shoulder, I think you at least owe me the name of the guy I'm taking the heat for."

"Well, you weren't even supposed to be here, you know!" she countered.

He chuckled, "I know, but I am now and there's nothing we can do about that...so...who is he?"

When she continued walking and didn't appear likely to reply, he caught up with her and held onto her shoulder, stopping her from walking anymore, "Spill it, Raven," he said, determined. She looked up and met his eyes. "You owe it to me."

He watched as the emotion drained from her face and was once again amazed at how she managed to do that.

When there was absolutely nothing in her expression, she spoke, "Robin."

Speedy was completely still for all of three seconds, before breaking into a large grin "You're not kidding are you?"

"I don't love him or anything," she snapped. "I just find myself attracted to him, lately, that's all," she explained. "Beast Boy asked if I had the hots for anyone, and apparently I do..." she started walking so briskly he had to hurry to catch up to her, "It's probably hormones or something, but since I had to tell the truth when asked, there you go, that happened and now they think it's you that I have the hots for because I refuse to even have them guess that it's Robin or it'll ruin the team dynamic."

Speedy stopped smiling and continued walking pensively. Raven had probably never strung that many words together in one sentence in all of her life. He could hear what the words were, but he also heard something else beneath them.

Raven glanced at Speedy out of the corner of her eye as they approached the café. He had stopped smiling, and wasn't reacting in any of the ways she thought he would react. She thought he might act shocked beyond belief, she thought he might laugh, or tease her about it, but she never thought he'd be quietly serious and introspective.

It wasn't until they were seated at one of the outside tables with iced coffees in front of them that she finally could take no more of his silence. "What?" she prompted.

He looked at her, "What?" he tried.

"Say something," she prompted.

He grinned, "Something."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You know what I mean."

"What do you want me to say?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know," she admitted, "But I was prepared to threaten you if you teased me, be annoyed if you laughed, and be offended if you seemed shocked or in disbelief." She cocked her head to the side as if to better inspect him, "Quiet acceptance I was unprepared for."

He shrugged and laughed, "You're my friend, Rae," he told her, "When you tell me you have feelings for another of my friends, well, there's nothing for me to say."

"You're not surprised?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Hell no," he told her. "I half thought you and he had already..." he trailed off, letting his crude hand movements and dirty gesticulation speak to say exactly what he thought they had already done. When Raven only rose both brows at him, he smiled and scratched the back of his head, "Well...had done something," he decided to be vocally more vague than his gestures had implied.

"What?" she asked, shocked. "Why would you?"

_'For being such a smart chick,'_ Speedy thought, _'Raven could really be rather obtuse sometimes.'_ He shrugged and leaned back in the chair., "Because you two are so alike," he answered. At her look of disbelief, he explained, "Both brooding, both quiet and pensive...both have dark things in your past you don't like to talk about, both notorious about keeping secrets..." he trailed off, "You both...you know..." he tapped his forehead, "..._think_ the same." He saw the look on her face and laughed, "Hey, these are all quasi-good things," he tried, but when it was obvious she wasn't buying that, he shrugged, "You both care about your friends and would do anything for the rest of the team and for the city...you're both just as stupidly hopeful in the core of you, you both smile, only really smile, for your friends, not the cameras or publicity or anyone else...and it's just as rare and wonderful to be considered a friend for you as it is for him." He shrugged casually as he leaned back in the wrought iron chair, "I'm surprised you guys haven't jumped each other's bones way before now." He stopped her protest before she could utter it, "Oh yeah, right. I forgot: you're both hardheaded and stubborn to a fault, too."

For awhile, they were silent and although Raven knew she had to ask him whether or not he would _out_ her to her friends or not, she didn't quite know how to approach it.

Finally unable to hold it, she just asked, "So?"

Speedy blinked at her, as if she just pulled him out of a deep thought, "So?" he echoed.

"Are you going to do something?" she asked.

He looked slightly confused. "Something?" he wondered. "Like what?"

She rolled her eyes, "Like tell them that I lied and that it was really Robin and not you that I'm attracted to?"

He frowned, "Tch," he said, rolling his own eyes and shaking his head. "Of course not," he told her, patting her hand. "We're buds, aren't we?" he smiled hearteningly.

Raven was notably _not _heartened. As a matter of fact, she had a _very_ bad feeling about the look of that smile. "Yes," she answered carefully. Speedy nodded and continued sipping at his drink, the look of contemplation back on his features. Raven leaned back and frowned worriedly, "I don't like that look on your face."

Speedy looked at her, dripping charm, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do," she said, crossing her arms. "It's the same look you got just before you told Aqualad the burger was tofu when it was really a fish sandwich that time or the other time, just before you thought of switching everyone's coffee for decaf."

He chuckled unapologetically, but shrugged, "You can't prove a thing."

She narrowed her eyes at him but when all it did was prompt his laughter, she sighed and stood. He followed her, clapping his hands together. "Alright," he said resolutely. "So, this is what I propose-" Speedy began, rubbing his hands in a gesture not unlike a silent movie villain.

"Why do I get a sinking feeling in my soul at the beginning of that sentence?" she deadpanned.

He looked at her innocently, "I am sure I wouldn't know," he answered primly. She raised a brow at him, but he continued blithely. "So, here's the plan--"

"Plan?" she asked, feeling the first stirrings of panic. "_No_," she said emphatically, "There is no plan."

He smiled that wicked, going-to-get-into-trouble-regardless-of-what-you-say-or-do smile he was so famous for and Raven knew she was sunk.

"As I was saying, the plan..." Raven lowered her head into her hands and made a sound that from someone else might have been called a groan. Speedy grinned and went on. "They all probably think you brought me out here to confess to me your undying love and devotion..." at the look on her face, he stopped and reconsidered his words, "Okay, so you're overwhelming desire to make mad, crazy, monkey love to me..." again, her look dried the words in his throat and he sighed, reconsidering again, "...that you were attracted to me," he finished plainly. When she accepted that with a calm indifference, he shook his head. "So, they think you're here telling me that, so all we have to do is show up as if you told confessed your feelings to me and I reciprocated them."

"I can't believe I'm even contemplating this," she admitted, "But just what purpose would that serve?" she asked.

"Well, for one, it would get them to stop teasing you about it," he pointed out rationally, "And for two, it would stop Starfire's matchmaking schemes." She nodded, it was logical. She wasn't entirely convinced that there weren't other ways. "And for three, if I know Robin," he paused and waggled his eyebrows meaningfully, "and I do," he assured her, "it'll drive him so out of his mind with jealousy that he'll have to realize how much he wants you too," he said proudly, "and in no time, you'll have him eating out of the palm of your hand," he finished leering at her suggestively.

She shook her head, "Why does nobody ever listen to what I say?" she asked no one in particular, "I don't want him eating out of the palm of my hand!" she told Speedy.

He waved that off, unconcernedly, "Well, wherever you get him to eat off in the end is entirely up to you and your kinky selves," he said waggling his eyebrows again.

"That's not what I..." she exhaled, internally chanting her mantra. "Women," she began, attempting to approach the situation from a different perspective, "are different than men in one major respect," she told him calmly.

"Since I know it's not going to be the obvious respect that I'm thinking of..." he grinned mischievously, "Shoot: how?"

"Just because we might find some guy attractive, doesn't mean we need to scheme and plan because we can't live without screwing them," she finished.

Speedy looked at her knowingly, "Rae-Rae," he started, using the horrendous nickname she hated but that always caught her attention, "You can keep telling yourself that's all that you want, but when you know someone as well as you know Robin, get along with them, enjoy spending time with them, are generally their friend, _and_ on top of that, you're physically attracted to them..." he shook his head and crossed his arms, "However you slice it, kid," he looked at her, almost pityingly, "that's love."

She didn't know quite what to say to that frank and astute observation. She had always known Speedy was way more knowledgeable than people gave him credit for, but his casual statement of something she had never even wanted to consider left her reeling nonetheless.

She was still caught between a frank denial and sailing into uncharted emotional waters when Speedy put an arm casually around her shoulders and grinned down at her, "You leave it all to me, Rae," he told her, winking broadly, "Cupid Speedy will handle everything."

Raven numbly let him lead her back toward the park and his motorcycle. _'Why do the fates hate me?'_ Raven wondered woefully.

She of course, received no answer.

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**Notes:**

(+) Just like last time, this refers to a comment that **_Absentia_** gave me for Cyborg to say with reference to this story. I just put it here.

($) I _really_ wanted to write the scene where Speedy shows up at the door and the reactions of everyone to it, but it just didn't flow with the rest of the chapter, so I didn't. As I edited this chapter however, the scene just kept becoming more and more clear to me, so I just gave in and wrote it seperatly. It still doesn't flow with the chapter, so I am posting it on 'emsscraps' as a Deleted Scene. So, if you're interested in finding out how that happened, go ahead and check it out there.

**Thanks:** I'm still amazed at the reception to this fic. Generally, thank you to everyone. Individually: go find my "Review Responses" at my 'emsscraps'. (And btw, if you don't know what or where that is, it's my emsscraps livejournal account. Just type in emsscraps dot livejournal dot com and you'll get there. (obviously putting in a . for 'dot')


	5. Chapter 4: Best Laid Plans

**A/N:** This one was mostly done before I went off to the Bar Exam, which is why I can post it today while I'm still drained and exhausted and fighting a post-stress headache. I just fixed up a few things and replied to reviews. I have nothing else to say. I'll be working on "Estranged" tonight. I know where I want to take it, but right now, I have no inclination to actually think.

Still not beta'd.

**Thanks:** Special thanks go out to everyone who wished me luck and encouragement on my way to the Exam from Hell. I'm back now, obviously, but I won't know if I've passed until September, so now I have a few months of recovery time before I know whether I can start looking for work as an attorney or if I have to start studying again to take it in Feb.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 4: Best Laid Plans  
**__**by Em**_

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"_...you wouldn't know a subtle plan if it painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing 'Subtle Plans Are Here Again.'"  
_- Blackadder

Raven was, as much as Raven was able, dragging her feet. "Why do you insist on this?" she asked tiredly. When Speedy's only response was to raise an eyebrow at her, she held his gaze and demanded, "Why don't you just leave the status quo as it was?"

Speedy petted her hand as if she were a five year old. "Because I want to help you," he told her solicitously. He placed his arm around her waist and led her another few steps forward. "And if Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg's initial reaction to _me _is the kind of matchmaking you've got at your disposal then you'll definitely need me to sort out this mess."

"You?" she rose a brow in challenge, "And just who made you Cupid?"

He smiled smoothly, "Who needs Cupid when you've got me?" he asked dramatically. "Why, I'm the Gangster of Love!"(1)

"Gangster, huh?" she asked skeptically.

"The red on the Valentine," he continued.

Despite her predicament, it took quite a bit of control to keep from smiling. "The what now?" she asked.

"The lace on your lingerie!"

She raised a hand between them and diverted her eyes, "I...just..._no_..."

He smiled at her and it dripped seduction, "So does that means you _do_ own lingerie?"

Raven pressed her lips together, whether to keep from smiling or to keep from saying something rude, even she didn't know.

"Plus," he continued as if he hadn't taken that side trip down flirtation-street, "I've even got the bows and arrows to prove it."

"Fabulous." She extended her hand to him seriously, "Can I have one to kill myself with, please?"

He took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her knuckles. She glared at him and he smiled, "Hey, you have to get used to these little shows of affection if we're going to be lovers."

She was out of his grasp and staring at him, a blush on her cheeks before he had even closed his mouth from the end of the sentence. "We are _not _going to be..." she started, but his laughter cut her off.

"Well, we're not _really_ going to be lovers," he told her, "I mean, unless you'd like to have some practice before..." at her death glare, he trailed off, laughing and raising his hands in defense, "Just kidding...but we have to at least pretend to be lovers if our plan is going to work."

"_Your_ plan," she corrected.

He gently took her hand in his again and pointedly placed it in the crook of his arm, a perfectly gentlemanly act, "_Our_ plan," he insisted, winking at her.

Raven sighed and let him pat her hand and walked with him, but her arm was stiff and she was obviously wary. "I have a _bad_ feeling about this."

"You keep saying that," he pointed out as they walked toward the row of shops.

"That's because I do."

He stopped walking, drawing her up to his side where he could look down at her. Before she could ask or guess at what he intended, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss on her forehead, "Relax, Bunny, it'll be okay."

She was surprised by the sudden contact and blinked a few times before what he called her registered and she frowned, "I rather not remember that time in my life," she said seriously, continuing to walk.

He laughed, "Uh...what?" he asked, figuring he had missed something.

She stopped, blushed at realizing that he didn't in fact know about her time in Mumbo's hat and sighing, shook her head, "Nevermind."

"Oh, no," he stopped them again, "You can't say something like that and not explain the whole story," he pressed, using his free hand to poke her shoulder, "Come on, Rae..."

She shook her head resolutely, "Ask one of the others about it sometime," she allowed, "Suffice it to say that I do _not_ like bunnies." _Or pies,'_ she added silently to herself, '_Or pink dresses. Or kindly elderly women who do lots of baking...'_ (+)she stopped her mental list of things she didn't like or she'd be there all day. Instead, she let go of his arm and continued walking without him so that he had to hurry to catch up to her.

"Ookay..." he said, casually putting an arm around her shoulders. He felt it when she stiffened, but at least she wasn't pushing him away, which was progress. "But I'm gonna have to find a nickname for you, you know."

"Must you?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely." He brought her a little closer to his side, diverting their direction when he spotted a shop that looked like it had both male and female clothing. He noticed her notice the shop and was pleased when she didn't resist. "All lovers have them for each other," he told her knowingly.

Raven paused from her inspection of the offerings in the store they had just entered, wondering whether to react first to his statement or the store.

For his part, he was just enjoying making her react at all. "Now, how do you feel about Sugar Lips?"

She glared at him, knowing that was probably sufficient.

He laughed.

She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the fact that his chosen response to her glares was laughter.

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"This _can't_ be a good idea," Raven reaffirmed, looking around her. "It just..." she met his eyes across the room, "...has _'wrong_' written ALL over it."

"Will you trust me?" Speedy asked, closing the door behind them and putting down their packages. "I'm telling you that this is going to work like a charm."

Raven went to the thick curtains at the floor length windows and pulled them open, staring out across the city, sighing into the sunset. "I don't know why I'm letting you talk me into this."

"Because, deep down, you know I'm right," he told her, shifting bags and other things behind her.

"No, I think maybe it's because deep down I'm really as crazy as Beast Boy always says I am," she countered.

"Maybe you have a wild streak you haven't explored before and I help bring it out?" he offered casually.

"Maybe I'm actually in a very vivid nightmare," she said monotonously.

He laughed and approached her. She could see his reflection in the quickly darkening window so when his fingers trailed up her arm to gently squeeze her shoulder, she wasn't surprised. He met her eyes through the reflection on the glass. "Maybe I can make it more like a fantasy?"

She shook her head and sighed, "You really have a one track mind, don't you?"

He shrugged. "It's just so much fun to tease you, Rae," he admitted.

"What I don't get," she started, turning around to face him, "Is why we don't just go back to the Tower, the way we initially talked about, and tell them all there."

"Because if we do that, _everyone_ will barrage us with questions, not to mention I'll probably get a lecture or two from the more brotherly inclined of your teammates and _you'll_ get attacked and taken for 'girlie talk' with Starfire and the teasing will begin and..." he trailed off, his hands rolling in wide circular motions.

Her head lowered, and she sighed. "Stop. The image is very clear." She knew he was right. "But why here?" she asked, as close to a whine as she would ever get.

"Just trust me," he told her, handing her a bag and winking at her, "You should change, you've got a call to make soon."

Raven took the bag but looked increasingly skeptical, "You know he's going to be able to tell where exactly we are once I use my communicator."

Speedy grinned, "That's the plan."

"And you want me to lie to him...?"

"Because you wouldn't want to admit where you are, see?" he asked. "If you admitted it straight out, he'd be too suspicious."

"But he's going to be suspicious anyway if I tell him I'm somewhere else when he can plainly see where I am."

He laughed, "You don't have a deceptive bone in your body..." he gently pinched her cheek, "That's so cute."

Raven narrowed her eyes at him, "Just because I'm not an accomplished liar..."

"I do not lie," he interrupted, taking off his shirt casually as he walked across the room, "I bullshit...there is considerable difference."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, taking a moment to watch his back muscles before turning away to look at the skyline, "I bet."

"Sure..." he added from somewhere behind her, "Bullshit is an art-form."

She sighed and taking the bag, started across the posh carpeted floor of the sophisticated hotel room toward the bathroom, "Whatever," she said, "I'm changing."

He stopped her with bare arms around her shoulders, his face close to her, "You'll have to get used to seeing me, at least shirtless if we're going to be playing lovers, you know," he said casually.

"You keep saying things like that," she pointed out.

"Well, it's true," he said unapologetically.

"Can I go change now?" she asked evenly.

"Are you nervous?" he asked with a quirked brow.

"No," she answered, "but does that mean I have to change in front of you?" she asked steadily.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt..."

She elbowed him in the stomach and he let her go. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hoping to take advantage of the situation," she said over her shoulder as she closed the bathroom door.

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"Okay, so do you know what you're going to say?"

Raven adjusted the straps of her silk top one more time and wished she had some sort of safety pin to prevent it from falling, "Yes, we're figuring things out, going to be out all night, don't wait up, see you in the morning, blah blah..."

Speedy reached out and lifted the other strap when it fell off her shoulder, smiling at her, "You look beautiful."

She stopped trying to smooth out the black skirt and looked at him, "Thank you."

He pecked her on the cheek and she stilled, frozen. Still leaning close to her, he laughed, "Another thing you'll have to get used to, you know."

"You're just lucky I have more control over my powers now that Trigon's gone," she warned.

He handed her her communicator. "Show time."

She took a deep breath, hoping to 'get into character' and just as she was about to open it, it began buzzing. Surprised, she was stopped from opening it by Speedy's hand on it, "What?" she asked.

"Wait," he said.

"Why? I was going to call them anyway."

"I've been inspired," Speedy said, a wicked gleam in his eye. He led her by the hand to the bed, and hurriedly pulled away the fluffy comforter, reaching for the white cotton sheets beneath. "Here, wrap this around you."

Raven's eyes opened wide, "What?"

"Way better than what we had planned! It'll save us a lot of explaining later!"

And the com continued buzzing insistently. "Speedy..." she started warningly.

He took the sheet and wrapped it around her, sitting her down on the bed and throwing the other comforters around her to hide her clothes. He then mussed her hair and finally, took one of the straps of her blouse in hand where she finally stopped him, "What do you think...?"

"Tuck it inside!" he told her urgently.

"It might not even be Robin, you know."

"I bet it is," Speedy insisted.

"What makes you think...?"

Speedy stopped her, finger under her strap between skin and silk, "If it is Robin, you do exactly what I say, plan related, of course, for a week, no arguments, and if my plan doesn't work by then, then it doesn't work."

She narrowed her eyes. The com was _still_ buzzing. It stopped, and after a moment, started again. "And if it isn't?" she asked, starting to pull her arms out of the straps so she could tuck them under the sheet wrapped around her breasts.

"Then I'll leave for Steel City tonight, and you can tell them whatever you want and pretend it's a long distance thing or a one night thing or whatever you want...I'll go with whatever you say."

She sighed, "Deal," she said, taking the com and flipping it open with one hand while holding the sheet with the other.

Speedy conveniently disappeared out of line of sight.

"Raven," Robin started, then, noticing her state, faltered for a moment.

"Robin," she said, knowing her life in the next week was going to be hell. "Is everything alright?" she asked, concern in her voice, "Is there a mission?"

Robin swallowed and Raven tried to keep the sight of the com away from her pretend state of undress, "No," Robin said carefully, "No, I...you just hadn't checked in since you left and we were worried..."

"I apologize," Raven replied, not having to pretend to blush, "I got...distracted...and...involved..."

Robin's eyebrow rose, and he cleared his throat, "I see."

"I was just about to call," she continued, pulling the sheet a bit further up on her chest with one hand, "I just stepped out of the shower."

"Oh, so that's a towel?" Robin asked, looking pointedly at the things he was clutching against her chest.

She didn't so much as blink, the fact that he would even be so blunt about asking her making her just this side of peeved. Peeved enough to get her passed her guilt about lying, "What else would it be?" she asked, daring him to call it as he obviously saw it. When he visibly swallowed back his comment, she continued, "I just got out of the shower when I heard the com..."

"You did?" he asked.

"Yes," she confirmed, "We...well, we decided to go out for a bit and get to know each other," she said, holding the sheet in place with her arm and lifting her hand to push back her hair, "You know, have a quiet dinner, a stroll...you know..."

"Apparently, I don't," he mumbled, but low enough that she could pretend she didn't hear him.

"And so we bought some civilian clothes so we wouldn't have to go all the way back to the Tower and then all the way back here..."

"And you rented a hotel room," he finished for her.

"Well, Speedy did..." she said, then promptly blushed, "So we can shower and change..."

"Take a nap?" Robin offered way too casually.

"Ye.." she started to agree, then stopped when she realized what she was agreeing to. The sudden flush of guilt at being so subtly caught in a lie by the one person who could always tell when she wasn't being 100 percent truthful was certainly genuine. Raven was, of course, nothing if not good at keeping her face from showing every emotion she was feeling, so she managed quite nicely to show him a considering expression, as if she were thinking about his question, "No," she decided, and just to play the part, allowed the upper left hand corner of her lips raise in a semi-smile. "No sleeping at all, actually," she provided, quite truthfully.

"I bet," he half mumbled and before Raven could ask him about his comment, he continued, "Where is he?" Robin asked.

She looked around the room and couldn't see him, but she heard the water running in the bathroom, "He's in the shower," she said looking back at Robin.

Robin was completely rigid and she knew he had already sensed the lie. She hated lying to him. But she had to admit, it did look as if he were maybe a little bit jealous. Maybe she was reading into it because of Speedy's assurances, but...maybe not?

"The shower you were just in?" Robin asked for clarification.

"Well, there is only one," she confirmed with just a hint of her usual sarcasm.

And before either of them could say another word, the door behind Raven just out of sight of the Com opened and steam and a towel clad Speedy emerged. "Shower's free," he declared standing at the threshold for a moment to dry his wet hair with another towel.

At the sight of maskless Speedy, clad only in a towel slung haphazardly around his waist, his hard body glistening with moisture, Raven flushed right down to her toes. Of course, it was only for Robin's benefit that her cheeks flushed prettily, her lips parted in appreciation and her eyes went wide, her brows lifting towards her hairline.(+) It wasn't like she _actually_ enjoyed the view.

He grinned at the look on her face, his green eyes twinkling in mischief. "The hot water's great," he said, walking around the bed to come closer to her and into the Communicator's line of sight.

"I'll be right in," Raven answered, realizing that she needed to say something.

"Logically," Speedy continued, using the towel to wipe at his torso, "It would've been quicker if you'd joined me, you know..." he trailed off as he finally seemed to notice the communicator open in her hand. "Hey, is that Robin?" he asked. "Hey, Rob!" he called, coming to sit beside Raven on the bed, placing a casual arm around her bare shoulders. "How you doing, bro?"

"Speedy," Robin greeted, even more rigid than before.

"Is something up?" Speedy asked Robin, then, turning to Raven, "You gotta go?"

Raven shook her head, finally swallowing and closing her mouth, flushing even more at the realization of how she had been staring, "No, he was just checking in."

"Oh, alright," Speedy said, "Did you tell him about our plans?" he asked.

"Not yet," she answered.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," he said, pulling away and smiling at her, "Oh, sorry," he used the towel he'd had for his hair to pat her shoulders dry, "Got you all wet there," he said, before smoothing her hair back and letting his thumb graze her cheek and pecking her easily on the cheek, "See you later, Rob," he called and stood up, "Rae-Rae, you need to shower if we want to make our reservations," he said, leaving the com's line of sight.

Raven's eyes followed him until he disappeared into the closet and she turned back to Robin, letting the attraction show on her face, "Like I said, I was going to call to let you know not to expect us back tonight, we're going to be out late," she said, "And so we'll just see you in the morning."

"Raven..." Robin started, frowning.

"Call me if you need me," she said, "Otherwise, I'll talk to you in the morning," she said and closed up the com before he could say another word.

It felt as if she hadn't exhaled the whole time she had been talking to him so when she hung up, she exhaled in a great rush.

"Sweet Azar," Raven mumbled, "Speedy, I'm going to KILL you!" she called out, standing up and fixing her straps.

Thankfully, when Speedy stepped out from the confines of the walk in closet, he was wearing the new pants he had just bought. Raven frowned. _'The term wearing, of course, being applied loosely,'_ she thought as she noted that the pants were over his hips, but not quite buttoned yet.

"Well, it got the point across, I think," he said nonchalantly.

_'Like a sledgehammer,' _she thought. "Why do I have a sinking feeling you're enjoying this?" she asked.

"Well, let's see," he started, pulling on his shirt, "I get to help two friends find each other," he said pensively, "And I get to hang out with you to do it," he shrugged, "What's not to enjoy?" He walked back into the closet to find his shoes, "That I get to torture Bird Boy a bit is only icing on the cake."

"This can't possibly end well..." Raven prophesied yet again as she watched him disappear in search of his shoes.

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**Notes:**

(1) This was a line I remember from "Grumpy Old Men". Or was that "Grumpier Old Men"? Whatever. One of those two.

(+) **_Absentia_**'s comments again.

**A/N:** Could our Raven actually enjoy looking at a half-naked Speedy? Hmmm...


	6. Chapter 5:Confrontations and Revelations

**A/N:** I thought about being mean and leaving it at the first scene change, but then I decided you guys had been so nice to me in your reviews and hits of this story, I couldn't possibly do that to you...so here you go, 11 pages worth of Stupid Cupid's antics.

Not beta'd.

**Thanks:** At 'emsscraps'. Read them. Sometimes I let little itty-bitty spoilers slip...occasionally. And some people ask really good questions and sometimes I answer them. If I can. As well as I can.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 5: Confrontations and Revelations  
**__**by Em**_

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"_Keep smiling-It makes people wonder what you've been up to."  
_-Anonymous

It had been incredibly late by the time Speedy and Raven had entered the Tower. So late, it was almost early. They didn't do anything particularly special, and it had surprised Raven to realize that Speedy had really meant to do what he had her tell Robin they were going to do. They had gone to dinner, taken a walk, had coffee at a beatnik coffee shop where a three piece jazz band was playing, and mostly talked. And although Speedy did graze her shoulder occasionally or casually put an arm around her, touch her waist as he led her into a room or held her hand as he helped her onto his motorcycle, he behaved himself admirably. Of course, he leered at her and made suggestive remarks as often as he could get away with them, but all in all, he was a perfect gentleman.

So, when they finally entered the Tower and found it quiet and still in sleep, Raven didn't even think twice about it when Speedy followed her to her room. That was, until he was inside her room and the door was closed behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked warily.

He smirked. "Why Raven," he teased, "You look distrustful of my good intentions."

Raven folded her arms at her chest and raised a brow, "That's because I am."

He chuckled. "After all we've been through?"

"I actually enjoyed spending time with you today, Speedy," Raven admitted, but not like it was a compliment. "Don't ruin it now by making me throw you out the window."

"Well," he said, "Here's the thing." He leaned back against the door, the perfect picture of innocence. "If it becomes obvious that I was sleeping in the guest room when everyone wakes up, it's going to really throw everything else we worked for out the window."

Raven raised the other brow, "So you're saying you should sleep in my room, is that it?"

He half nodded, half shrugged, "In the first throes of passion, one lover would never consider sleeping apart from the other."

She pursed her lips, "I suppose you would know."

He shrugged sheepishly. "We all have our areas of expertise."

Raven sighed and looked around her room, trying to figure out the logistics.

"Don't worry, babe, I'll take the floor," he assured her, the smile on his lips trickling through his voice.

Raven looked at him and narrowed her eyes, "Of course you'll take the floor, I'm just looking around for sheets and an extra pillow for you."

He smiled and didn't say a word while Raven moved about her room, going into her closet and turning on the light. Speedy tried to catch a glimpse of its interior but saw only that it was a walk in and that there was lots of dark material in it. He shook his head, '_Figures_,' he thought.

The next thing he knew, a pillow with a dark purple jersey sheet folded on top of it floated to him in a cloud of black energy. "Is this all I'm getting?" he called out to her, "What if your room gets cold?"

Before he could take a step toward the closet however, a folded thermal blanket flew into his face. He caught it before it hit the floor and chuckled, "Thanks."

Her answer was the shutting of the closet door with her still inside. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Changing," she answered.

"You could've just asked me to close my eyes," he called back.

She scoffed and he heard it even through the door.

By the time she emerged in a set of flannel pajamas and long sleeved t-shirt (the most modest thing she could find) Speedy had already changed and was lying on the floor by her bookcase. Well, Raven thought, change is a loose adjective for what he'd done. As far as she could tell, all he'd done was take off his shirt. The purple sheet was up to about his waist so she couldn't tell if he was wearing the same pants or something else under it...or nothing.

He was on his side and had his head held up by his hand,bent at the elbow, as he looked down at a book he had opened on the floor.

"You've got a really interesting collection of books, Rae-Rae," he said without glancing at her.

"Interesting as in weird?" she asked as she walked to the bed.

"Interesting as in varied and motley," he answered, looking up at her as she pulled back her own comforters and sheets.

She shrugged and slipped under the covers, leaning back against the pillows. "Are we waking up at a certain time tomorrow?" she looked at the clock next to her bed and withheld a groan at the time she saw there. "It's nearly five am."

He sat up to better keep her eyes and the sheet slipped a little from his waist. Raven looked back at the bedside table clock in an instinctual reaction not to look at him. As if realizing how silly that was, she turned back to look at him after a moment, but she was very certain to keep her eyes at eye level. If she had turned back only a fraction of a second earlier, she might have seen the look of amusement on Speedy's face.

"I think we need at least a few hours sleep," he told her. "I have some people to see in the evening," he explained, "but other than that, I'm all yours."

She made a face and lowered the pillows back onto the bed. "So I won't set the alarm, then," she announced, all business-like and crisp.

"No, no need," he agreed. "I'm sure someone of your Titans will be knocking on the door at some point."

"If some villain doesn't wake us up first," she added.

It did not escape Speedy's notice that she did not argue the point that someone would come to her door at some point.

Speedy leaned back onto the floor and folded his arms between his head and the pillow, staring up at the ceiling that looked a bit like the night sky. "I bet it's Robin who knocks first," Speedy said, deceptively casual.

She scoffed and turned on her side. It had occurred to her when she saw him lay down that the floor couldn't possibly be comfortable but she was trying very hard not to feel guilty about it. "I think it'll be Cyborg."

"What do you want to bet?" he challenged.

"You already got me to agree to do your bidding, plan related, for a week, what else do you want?" she asked.

Speedy was silent for such a long while that Raven actually sat up to see if he had fallen asleep. What she found was worse than she could've imagined. He had that look on his features that let her know he was thinking of something that wouldn't bode well for her sanity at all. But before she could think of something to say that might make him reconsider saying whatever it was he was thinking about, his expression changed, just like that...like the flicking of a switch and the mischievous wickedness melted right off his expression to leave it strangely open and almost innocent.

He turned to her and she was caught by the glitter of green in the filtered light of her room for a moment until he spoke, "Nothing, actually."

Raven blinked at him for a few moments, surprised and yet not. It seemed surprising because she saw the look on his face, she had felt that instant desire of his to say something that would rile her or tease her or embarrass her, she felt that wickedness in him that wanted to push her a little further, but it for some reason, it wasn't surprising that he wouldn't take advantage of it. Not surprising at all.

And _that_ surprised the crap out of her.

"I sleep on the right," she told him, leaning back down onto the mattress and turning her back on the left side of the bed. "Take the left or the floor, it's up to you," she said monotonously.

Speedy took a moment to stare at her back in utter surprise. Was she inviting him to sleep on her bed? "Raven?" he asked.

She sighed and the shape of her body under the covers heaved, but she didn't turn to look at him. "The floor's uncomfortable. I don't know why you're doing all this yet exactly, but at least some level of it is to help me, so sleep on the bed if you want the left side," she said, still monotonous and unfeeling. "But you'll be loosing any part of your body that comes into contact with my body, got it?"

His answer was to slip under the covers of the left side of her. She was utterly still as he found a comfortable spot to sleep in and didn't so much as look at him when he had finally settled down on his right side, facing her back. After a while when he felt her relax on the bed and her breathing regulate into sleep, he took a deep breath and found himself inhaling the scent of her on the sheets.

He had a moment to think, _'Maybe this _is_ a bad idea...'_ before he let sleep claim him.

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Speedy answered the door, hair disheveled, wearing only a haphazardly placed mask and a pair of sweatpants, slung low on his hips, as if they hadn't made it all the way to his waist. He blinked at Robin sleepily, "What's the matter?" he whispered, his voice just slightly hoarse from sleep. He was standing so squarely in the door frame that Robin couldn't see beyond it.

"Where's Raven?" Robin asked.

Speedy glanced over his shoulder and back to Robin, "Sleeping," he whispered, "Is something wrong?" He looked less asleep and more alert at the possibility. "Do you need me to wake her?"

"No," Robin answered, his tone clipped, as he tried not to think about why the thought of Speedy waking Raven bothered him. "Why don't we take a walk?" Robin asked.

Speedy understood, but he smiled sheepishly anyway, "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd rather..."

"I know what you'd rather do, Speedy," Robin interrupted, "But I think we really need to take a walk." Realizing his tone, Robin shrugged, "I'll make you coffee," he offered in the hopes of softening the request.

Speedy seemed to think about it for a minute before nodding, "Alright," he said, "Let me just get a shirt," he stepped away from the door and back into the semi-dark room. Robin watched from the door as he walked to the bed and picked up a shirt from the ground. On the bed, a hidden amorphous shape under the covers, Raven moved and he heard the timbre of her voice speak, but he couldn't understand what she said.

Speedy placed a hand on her back and spoke, and although his voice being already less asleep, was more understandable, Robin still only managed to catch snatches of words: "...sleep...later...coffee..." Then, the redhead leaned down, presumably to kiss her before straightening and walking back toward him, pulling on a white muscle tee as he did.

As soon as the door swished closed behind him, Speedy spoke, "So, what could the leader of the Titans West possibly have to say about my relationship with Raven?"

Robin was only mildly surprised at the other's bluntness, "Oh?" Robin asked, as they walked, "It's a relationship now?" he asked.

"Well," Speedy answered, running a hand through his already mussed hair as he walked, "It's not a one-night stand, that's for sure." He seemed to realize something and stopped, mid stride. When Robin turned back a few steps ahead, to find out what had stopped him, he smiled hopefully, "And if that's all you wanted to ask, I'll take a rain check on the coffee..." he said, motioning the direction they had come.

"That's not all I wanted to ask," Robin told him, walking on and expecting Speedy to follow, which he did.

"To tell you the truth," Speedy began, as he watched Robin fiddle with the coffee maker from the other side of the counter, "I thought Cyborg would've been the first one to call me out for a heart to heart."

"Like you said," Robin spoke, head lowered as he filled the filter with aromatic ground beans, "I'm the leader."

Speedy couldn't help it; he grinned. He knew exactly why Robin wanted to have this 'tête a tête' with him, but he couldn't help playing the role and making Robin spill it out. "So are you going to give me the 'father' speech?" Speedy asked playfully.

Robin looked up and his expression was _not_ amused. It wasn't upset either...just...neutral. "Have you had a lot of 'father' speeches before?" he asked casually.

Speedy shrugged, "Not really...it's never that serious and it's not like I am either wanted or want to stick around long enough to meet the parents," he said easily.

"So this is your first time spending the entire night with a girl you've slept with, is that it?" Robin continued, back to formalities of making coffee.

Speedy's grin fell off his face, "Listen," he started, his voice serious, "You're my friend, Rob, and I understand Raven's a member of your team and all that, but despite whatever you might think, I don't make it a habit to talk about my private life and what I may or may not do with girls...especially if the girl is as private as Raven is." He met Robin's gaze unfalteringly, "I understand you guys are her family and as such, I understand you want to protect her, especially because of all the hype that goes on about me, so why don't you just give me the warning about ripping out various of my appendages if I hurt Raven in any way or whatever and we can get on with our morning?"

Once again, Robin was surprised by Speedy's candor. "I don't need to threaten you," he finally spoke, "Although I'm sure Cyborg will be doing that at some point," he admitted. "I just wanted to know where you stood..." Speedy raised his brows, clearly indicating further explanation. "Raven is..." Robin trailed off and took out the coffee cups, "...special."

Speedy leaned back away from the counter at Robin's admission. He had to chose his words very carefully, too much and it would push Robin back into his denial, too little and he'd get off scott free without having to say anything else. "You're not the only one that knows that," Speedy finally decided.

"You said this wasn't a one-night stand," Robin reminded him.

"It isn't," Speedy told him.

"Is it just for sex?"

It was Speedy's turn to be surprised by Robin's bluntness. "I don't know," he answered.

When Robin met his eyes again, there was a flash of anger in his expression, before it was stomped down out of sight, "How could you not know something like that?" he asked.

"Because it's partly up to Raven, isn't it?" Speedy answered, some annoyance showing at Robin's tone. When it was clear he had Robin's attention, Speedy shrugged, "I don't want this to be a one-time thing and I like spending time with her," he admitted, "So where that puts us eventually, we'll have to wait and see." Speedy was glad to see the look of surprised contemplation on Robin's face. He was thinking of what to say, how to get more information out of him so Speedy decided to give it to him.

Speedy leaned back onto the counter, placing his elbows on the marble, "Look," he started, "We haven't declared undying love for each other, if that's what you want to know," he answered, "But I'm not just using her either, and I'm sure that's what you've been trying to get at, haven't you?" Robin didn't answer, so Speedy continued, "Of course I'm attracted to her," he admitted easily, "I mean, how could you look at her and not be?" he asked, smiling a little to himself before 'remembering' that he had to say something else, "But I would never have started something like this with her if she didn't want it too," he said finally, "I don't use women...not for sex and not for anything else, and I _certainly_ wouldn't use Raven. Anything that happens between us is consensual and completely on the up and up, even on the emotional up and up."

"But you don't love her," Robin finally spoke.

Speedy looked at him and smiled and it wasn't the happy-go-lucky smile he usually sported, rather, there was a hint of something else, something serious, "I don't love her, no, how can I? I barely know her," he admitted, "Hell, she doesn't love me either, she admitted as much when we talked yesterday." Robin didn't appear to be convinced, so he continued, "I know her limitations and she knows mine." He shrugged. "We're under no presumptions, _either_ of us."

The way he said 'either' made Robin hesitate for a moment. In all the wondering as to how he would approach Speedy and what he would say to him and how he would warn him and whether he should in some effort to protect Raven, it had never occurred to him that Raven wasn't exactly emotionally available, either. But the way Speedy was talking made it almost painfully obvious that _he_ had considered it. "If you don't love her..." Robin began but Speedy laughed.

"Robin, please, we're adults here, aren't we?" he said seriously. "Love and sex aren't always linked, aren't they?" he shrugged, "You can have sex without the love just like you can have love without the sex." He motioned to the brewed coffee in the maker and Robin set about pouring it out, "I like her, though," Speedy continued, watching as Robin's hand stalled just briefly on his quest for the sugar and cream. "And I respect her a lot more than I think even she realizes." When Robin turned back to him, Speedy grinned brightly, "With that as a base, who knows what could happen in the future?" Speedy took a moment to sip from his cup, "This is pretty good," he complimented.

Robin mumbled his thanks and went back to get his own.

"Now, can I ask you something?" Speedy prompted.

"What?" Robin asked.

"Are you really just asking because of your role as team leader and friend?"

Robin turned back to him, cup in hand, "You said it, she's like family." Speedy nodded, but didn't look altogether convinced. Robin took a pull from his cup and raised a brow, "Why would you ask?"

Speedy met his eyes, even through the masks they both wore, "I thought you might be a rival," he said simply. Robin's eyes widened a little in surprise and Speedy looked away, "I'm being as honest with you as I can be, Robin," Speedy said seriously, sipping more from the cup, "Because you're my friend and because she thinks highly of you too," he continued. "But if you can't even admit that you like her, I won't treat you with any sort of respect when it comes to my relationship with her."

"What are you talking about?" Robin asked after a few moments.

Speedy shrugged, "If I'm wrong, consider it the first showings of possessiveness peeking through," he said easily, "But if I'm right, consider it fair warning."

Robin might have said something in reply but the elevator dinged behind them, signaling they were about to be joined by someone.

"Morning, y'all..." Cyborg said on a yawn as he entered the kitchen. His eyes widened when he caught the tension hanging in the air and Speedy's state of casualness. "Am I interrupting something?"

Speedy grinned at him, "Nope," he said cheerily.

Cyborg looked at him for a moment and it was clear he was trying to figure out what to do if anything at that exact moment. Speedy's face was open and expectant, as if waiting for Cyborg to start the conversation and for a moment, Cyborg thought he would. He wasn't as shocked or instinctively angry as he had been when Speedy first showed up at the Tower, but that didn't mean he was any less protective of Raven. However, Speedy had behaved, he had to give him that, until Raven was the one that admitted to feeling for him. Cyborg had been watching the archer very carefully those first few days until Raven was forced to take him out and explain the situation to him. He _would_ have to have a talk with Speedy about his treatment of Raven, no doubt about that, but he no longer felt the immediate need to rip his intestines out through his nose.

So, Cyborg figured, he could wait until a little later to have his talk with the archer. Plus, he added, if the look on Robin's face was any indication, Speedy'd already been put through quite a bit of a wringer for being so early in the morning.

Cyborg nodded at Speedy in that way that guys understood meant, _'not now, but soon'_ and Speedy nodded back, serious in that way that always surprised everyone because of its rarity. But in a moment, the seriousness was gone and Speedy turned a grin to Robin.

"Mmm-hmm, this is some good coffee!" he told him, showing him the empty cup, "How about another cup?" he asked Robin. "Two sugars this time and just a dollop of cream."

Robin did as he asked, and knew, instinctively, it wasn't for him. "Raven doesn't like coffee," he told him before he could think.

"She doesn't?" he asked innocently. "Hmm..." He didn't argue, but he took the cup anyway.

"Ready for breakfast?" Cyborg asked in the hopes of easing the tension, "Speedy, bacon or sausage?"

"None for me, Cy," Speedy said, standing with the cup, "I'm going back to bed for another few hours at least..."

Cyborg watched as Speedy headed in the direction of the living quarters instead of the guest quarters and lifted his brow as the meaning became clear, "Oh, hell no, he did not sleep in Raven's..."

"He did," Robin answered curtly.

Cyborg's face formed into determined lines, "Why that..." Cyborg started to mumble, forgetting the decision he had come to not five minutes prior. "I'll..." he stopped when he noticed the eery stillness of his leader. It was the kind of stillness Robin got only when he was trying very hard not to react in an impulsive manner. That kind of stillness that said Robin was fighting his way back from that edge. "Did you and he already...?"

"Yes," Robin answered once again, just as curtly.

If the tension in the room and the expression on Robin's face was any indication, Cyborg knew he had probably come into the room just in time to avoid an all out sparring match between the two. Not that Speedy didn't probably deserve it for even daring to look at Raven in such a way but as much as Cyborg blustered and threatened, he knew it was Raven's decision in the end, so long as Speedy didn't hurt her. So, the fact that Robin had that look on his face this early on in the relationship couldn't bode well for any of them in the Tower.

"Oh, boy," Cyborg mumbled with feeling, turning away from Robin and busying himself with breakfast.

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Raven opened heavy lidded eyes as the smell of vanilla and caffeine invaded her senses. She blinked away the cobwebs of sleep and lifted herself off her stomach just a little to watch as an undefined shape made its very masculine way across from her door to her bed, quietly.

"You actually went back to sleep?" Speedy spoke, his voice amused but quiet the way one was always quiet when someone had just been woken up. He hadn't turned on the light and the only illumination in the usually dark room was the pale glow where the persistent sun always managed to sneak through the cracks in her heavy drapes.

She nodded and swallowed a few times, flipping onto her back and rubbing at her eyes, "You told me not to go out there," she said, her voice thick with sleep still. "And we didn't exactly have an early night."

He sat on the edge of the bed, next to her, and placed the coffee cup on the bedside table on a coaster there. "Then I'm sorry I woke you," he said.

She turned just her head to look at him and shrugged, although considering she was still lying on her back on the bed it didn't come out as graceful as it normally did, "You didn't," she told him, eyes opened and at least mostly awake, "The coffee did." She looked pointedly at the coffee, slight wisps of steam floating up from it and back to him, "Is that for me?"

He chuckled and picked it up again, holding it, handle toward her, within her reach, "You might have to at least sit up to drink it, though," he said teasingly.

She pushed down on the bed until she could sit up against the headboard and rubbed at her eyes again reflexively yawning and stretching before taking the mug. She smiled at him briefly as she noted how the color of the coffee was the exact shade of dark brown she liked. "You're a quick study," she complimented, taking a careful sip of the hot liquid.

"I try," he said, watching her drink. "You know," he started after a few more carefully sips, "Robin thinks you don't like coffee."

She made a momentary face, as if the last sip had been too hot on her tongue but he blinked and it was gone, "I'm not surprised," she answered once she swallowed. She caught his look and sighed, "Well, they assume all I drink is tea because it's what they usually see me drink in the afternoons and evenings," she said. "But one can only take so much of tea," she finished.

"I don't know how you take any of it at all," he confessed.

She offered him her mona lisa smile, "It's an acquired taste."

He sat with her, mostly in silence as she drank about half the cup of coffee and when only the last dregs of it were left, whatever was left of the cream and sugar having congealed on the bottom, he wordlessly took the cup from her hands and put it back on the coaster. She looked at him in surprise, but decided against mentioning anything. Best not to let him know how surprised she was at Speedy's ability to be observant. It wasn't exactly flattering that she thought he was about as observant as Beast Boy. "So," she started, "Was the conversation about what we thought it was going to be about?"

He shook his head, "Nope," he said, "At least, not exactly."

"So, what exactly?" she asked.

Speedy shrugged noncommitally. "He did the whole, 'as team leader I need to make certain what you're intentions are' but he did it in true Robin fashion, beating around the bush."

Raven looked down at her purple covered lap and shrugged, "I told you he..."

Speedy reached out and touched hand, "Don't be so quick to judge," he assured her. "You didn't see the look on his face when he asked me whether I was interested in you just for sex."

Raven's eyes opened wide and a faint blush tinged her cheeks. If her room wouldn't have been so dark, it might actually have been visible. "A look?" she asked once she had regained control of her immediate embarrassment.

"Yeah," Speedy said, "It was that look you know he gets when some villain has really pissed him off and he's just aching for the bad guy to do or say something that'll give him the right to pound him into pulp."

Raven looked skeptical. "He did not give you that look," she said certainly.

"I was there, sweet-cheeks," he told her laughingly. "I know that look when I see it."

Raven shook her head and ignored the sweet-cheeks, deciding to go for the more important bit of the conversation, "The only way he could've given you that look is if you did something or said something to piss him off."

Speedy looked at her, hard enough to make her want to look away. She didn't, but it wasn't easy and just when she was about ready to ask him what the hell the look was about, he shrugged and it was gone as if it'd never been there at all, leaving only the casual look he usually wore, "All I said was that I didn't know whether or not it was just for sex, that we were playing it by ear and that we both knew what we were getting into," he admitted. "Cross my heart and hope to die, Rae, I didn't goad him,"

Raven frowned and looked away, thinking. She believed him, but she wasn't altogether certain what to make of what he was telling her.

"I think he wants it to be just sex between us," Speedy said into her silence.

Raven turned back to him, raising a brow in question. "Why is that?"

"Because if it's just sex between us, then he thinks that we'll get tired or bored of one another eventually and I'll leave and things could go back to normal, and probably in some part of his head, he's thinking if it's just sex it can't be serious and if it can't be serious, he hasn't lost you."

"Did he say anything to make you think that or is that just another of your infamous feelings?" she asked after a while.

Speedy smiled and shrugged. "He didn't get a chance to," he admitted. "Cyborg walked into the kitchen before he could."

Raven raised both eyebrows, "And you're still alive to tell the tale?"

Speedy laughed, "He was better, really," he admitted. "He's still probably gonna corner me at some point, but I think he doesn't want to do it while anyone else is around and I don't think he realized I had been in your room until I actually left."

Raven groaned and slid back onto her back, lifting the covers over her head for a moment. Speedy watched the altogether un-Raven-like gesture in pleasant surprise. As if remembering that she wasn't alone while she did such a gesture, or maybe just realizing what it meant that Cyborg had seen Speedy and figured out Speedy was staying in her room might mean, she pushed the covers off her face and stared at him in about as much alarmed surprise as Raven ever allowed her expression to show. "So by the time we get up, the whole Tower and probably the East Tower will know about our status," she said.

He nodded and pushed her over, "So why don't we get some more sleep before we face all that?" he asked, motioning for her to give him room to lie down.

She shook her head, "Oh no, this was your idea, remember?"

He looked at her meaningfully, "Do _you_ want to face them with only..." he looked at the bedside clock, "...roughly three hours of sleep?" She looked at the clock as if considering the wisdom of his words. "Plus," he added as she moved over in the bed and he scooted under the covers, his back to her, "this way it'll give them time to think we're having early morning sex."

With a well placed shove, she pushed him off the bed so he fell like a lump on the floor. He sat up on the floor, one arm on the bed. He looked at her with a bemused look on his face, "You're going to have to get..."

"...used to talk like that," she finished for him, "I think I'm starting to see a pattern here," she said seriously, offering him a frown, "You're very predictable you know."

He laughed and stood up, climbing back into the bed, "Only two days into the relationship and I'm already predictable?" he wondered aloud, "That can't be a good thing."

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	7. Chapter 6: Banter

**A/N:** Eleven pages. This sucker has eleven pages, can you believe it? Speedy actually gave me some trouble in this one...near the end.

Not beta'd.

**Thanks:** At 'emsscraps'. Probably later tonight or tomorrow. Read them. Sometimes I let little itty-bitty spoilers slip...occasionally. And some people ask really good questions and sometimes I answer them. If I can. As well as I can.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 6: Banter  
**__**by Em**_

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"_If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."  
_- Andy Rooney

Raven slept later than she ever really had before (at least, while she was not in the med bay instead of her room) and when she woke it was to find Speedy already awake and dressed in his uniform looking at her book collection.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Around about noon," he answered, unsurprised to find her awake. He turned to her and smiled, "It's kind of hard to tell the time of day in your room you know that?"

She sat up and stretched, "That's the idea."

"But you never sleep in," he argued, walking toward her.

"Apparently, neither do you," she said, looking at his dressed and coiffed appearance.

He chuckled. "Well, some of us prefer to take full advantage of the morning -- er, afternoon."

She stood from the bed and didn't feel as strange as she thought she might at waking up to find Speedy in her room upon waking, but she didn't think about it. "Did you do what you had to do this morning?" she asked, remembering his words from the night before.

He nodded. "All done." He approached her with a grin, "And as promised, I'm all yours for the rest of the day."

She narrowed her eyes at him as she pushed herself into a sitting position. "Not that I want to be nosy or anything, but you know that if you need our help..."

His grin flashed again, about five times brighter than it had been before. "Aw, that's sweet, but it's nothing major." He shrugged. "Just some personal stuff to take care of and I did the first bit of it this morning."

"Alright," she raised her brows, "So what are you doing back in my room, then?" she asked, "Some nefarious purpose?"

"I actually came to wake you up, see if you wanted to have breakfast."

She raised the other brow as she stood from the bed, "If you think I'm going to make breakfast you're sorely mistaken."

He laughed and shook his head, "Oh, no, babe," he said still laughing, "I heard all about your pancake making attempt," he looked completely unperturbed at her scowl, "I think _I'll_ cook."

She chose to ignore commenting on that in favor of something much more important: "You cook?" she asked.

"Are you kidding?" he asked, puffing his chest in mock pride, "Just call me Emeril."

"Well, Emeril," Raven deadpanned as she reached into her drawers for a fresh leotard, "Your culinary masterpiece will have to wait, I'm afraid."

Speedy's face fell, "Don't tell me?" Raven rose a brow and waited. "Nothing in the fridge?"

Raven _almost_ smiled. "Not unless you count the blue mold Starfire's pudding tends to cultivate or the yellowish stuff of questionable origin which no one knows how it got in there."

"You guys are worse than we are!" Speedy exclaimed. "At least at our Tower, Bee and Mas make sure our fridge is stocked."

Raven rolled her eyes, "Lucky you."

"Well, I guess we could go out to eat?" Speedy said pensively.

"Are you hungry?" Raven asked, stopping mid-reach for her boots.

"Actually..."Speedy thought about it, "Not really." He approached her with a mischievous glint in his eye, "Why? Did you have something else in mind we could do?"

Raven rolled her eyes and ignored him, bypassing him for the door. "Where're the others?" she asked.

He shrugged, following her out of her room, "When I went out this morning, they were already gone."

She stopped on her way into the bathroom she shared with Starfire. "All of them?" she asked.

He nodded. "Every last one."

"Hmm," Raven said, opening the door and stepping through. She stopped halfway to taking off her sleep shirt when she realized that the door hadn't closed behind her the way it normally does and should automatically do. She turned around, her hands at her buttons, and raised a brow at Speedy, poised at the door. "Do you need something else?" she asked archly.

Speedy grinned. "Well, I thought we could take a shower together and conserve water."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Get out."

"It _is_ what lovers do, you know..." he tried.

She turned her back on him as she took off her slippers and picked up her hair nonchalantly. "You have until the count of three. One..."

She heard the door close and felt his kinetic presence on the other side of the door even before she heard his laughter or his steps as he walked away.

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When Raven got out of the shower and made her way to the common room in a fresh leotard and cloak it was to find Speedy working at the Titans' computer. Raven was temporarily taken aback by the look of concentration on his features as he worked. It wasn't that she thought he was incapable of concentration by any means, and certainly not that she thought the look of intelligent consideration in the set of his jaw and the shape of his mouth was necessarily alien on his features, only that it was _uncommon_.

Granted, she'd only ever worked alongside him once or twice and those times she'd been on a different prong of whatever plan the Titans had been working on and so had only caught glimpses of it. Enough to know that he was capable of it, but not enough to really consider it. It was something like Beast Boy making an intelligent remark. No one really thought the boy was unintelligent, only it was so rare that he used his intelligence that it was his choice to use it that was shocking more than that he possessed it.

He seemed so involved in what he was reading from the computer screen that he didn't hear her come in. It wasn't that she meant to pry, but it was very difficult to avoid seeing at least some snippets of the information he had called up on the screen. She saw nothing more than that it was scans of old newspaper articles and the words, 'Ranger, fire, Navajo, accident, hero, memorial' however, before she stepped close enough for him to hear her approach.

"It seems to me that you've got plenty of things to worry about other than my personal life," she said casually as she walked up behind him.

The change was nearly instantaneous. He didn't switch off the screen or even try to hide what he was looking at, but his expression of serious contemplation was gone as soon as he realized she was in the room, morphing into the same light-hearted, ready grin he usually wore. "Something more important than you, precious?" he asked, tsking and shaking his head, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms. "How dare you suggest such a thing?"

She rolled her eyes and stopped a foot or two from him, casually keeping her attention from the screen. The last thing she wanted was to make it seem that she was trying to pry into his personal life. "If nothing else, having you around will certainly boost my ego."

He grinned wickedly. "Providing ego boosts is only one of my _many_ services." He leaned forward and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "You wanna see my specialty?"

She exhaled and made it a point not to glare at him because it was exactly what he expected her to do in response to one of his lascivious suggestions. And although as lascivious suggestions went, that was mild, he knew she knew what he meant. "Seriously," she said instead, approaching another few steps. "I can't help feeling like you're setting aside the personal business that originally brought you here in order to take on this self-imposed quest of yours where I'm concerned."

He leaned back, "I'm not setting anything aside, first of all," he assured her.

"But it wasn't part of your original plan," she insisted.

He shrugged. "Plans change all the time..." he said easily. "You can't get upset every time they do, just because they do." He winked at her, "Especially if they change to present you with an opportunity as delicious as the one I've been presented with."

She rolled her eyes again, bypassing his comment for the true matter they were discussing. "Are you really that laid back and easy going about everything or is this just another act?"

He smiled and there was something about it that was completely sincere. It threw Raven for a moment, catching her off-guard. It made her feel as if she'd just caught sight of some mythical beast or as if she'd just seen something naughty and taboo (she couldn't decide which). "I really and truly believe that life is full of the unexpected and you can either roll with it and enjoy the ride or you can gripe and bitch about it, but what you can't do is stop it from happening. So me?" he shrugged again, "I prefer to enjoy the ride."

Raven shook her head. "You're quite a character..." she allowed.

He winked, "I'll take that as a compliment." When he noticed she was still staring at him as if she were trying to parse through his statements, he chuckled. "Besides, you can't plan out everything in your life, can you?"

"I can try," she said and she looked completely serious with not an ounce of sarcasm to her voice.

He knew she believed that so he laughed, "And how has that worked out for you?"

She thought about it and exhaled. He took that for his answer. "See?" He stood up and approached her. She stepped back, looking up at him warily. "You need to lighten up some, Rae." He reached out a hand and stopped just inches from her face, expecting her to pull away or flinch from his touch. He smiled into her eyes when she didn't pull away. She didn't look happy, but the fact she didn't avoid his touch even when they were all alone was progress. "Turn that frown," he rubbed the pad of his thumb over the crease between her eyebrows, just under her chakra stone, where her frown was visible, "upside down."

"The wind blows, the water flows," Raven said, searching the whites of his mask for his gaze. "Raven frowns."

"That's a chicken answer," he told her.

She frowned even harder at realizing that the serious look was back on his features. The same look he had offered whatever he was looking at on the computer screen. It was a bit disconcerting to have that look directed at her, even if she couldn't see his eyes. "What does poultry have to do with this?" she asked sarcastically.

He held the serious look for a moment before erupting in laughter. "Okay, okay, I'll drop it," he consented. "For now, anyway."

"You say that as if I was trying to get you to change the subject," Raven said.

He raised a brow, the smirk on his lips ruining what would have otherwise been a fair imitation of her own skeptical look. "You weren't?"

She shook her head seriously.

"Fine, then," he put his hands on his hips. "It's a chicken answer meaning that it is a cowardly answer, as is any answer that insinuates that someone simply _is_ a certain way."

Raven blinked, clearly shocked.

"You," and here he approached her again, "Are capable of mirth, you are capable of showing that mirth, and have even occasionally shown that mirth already."

Raven looked positively affronted. "I have not."

He crossed his arms. "I beg to differ." He smiled at her and reached out to gently touch a tip of his finger to the side of her mouth. "I've seen those gorgeous lips of yours curve into a smile with my own two eyes."

She narrowed her eyes. "When?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "Does it matter?"

"Yes, it makes your point."

He thought about it for a moment and although just such an instance when he had seen her smile came to mind, he sighed and shrugged instead. "As beautiful as your smile is and as rare as it is to see it, I do not mentally enumerate the times you've smiled, my love," he said as if he were talking to a small child. He had seen her smile plenty of times, but the only one that came to mind was one instance he was not keen on revealing he had been privy to. "I apologize if that deflates your ego, it was not my intention, but it is the truth." He knew better than to think that Raven's self-imposed blinders would stand up to such a revelation. When she smirked, he grinned and pointed at her in triumph, "A-ha! There!" he exclaimed. "You're smiling now!"

The smirk vanished replaced by another frown. "I am not."

Speedy laughed. "Well, you _were_."

Raven opened her mouth to argue, then stopped and narrowed her eyes at him. "What this _started_ out being was me offering to let you out of this ridiculous scheme of yours so that you could finish whatever business brought you to Jump in the first place."

"Trying to get rid of me already?" he asked, brow quirked.

"Since the first moment I met you," she quipped.

Speedy thought about that for a moment. "You _did_ close the door in my face," he remembered. She looked at him as if saying, _'See?_' He ignored her and shook his head. "I don't understand how people could say you don't have a good sense of humor," he said conversationally.

She raised a brow, "Who said I was joking?"

He put a melodramatic hand to his heart and looked as if someone just shot his cat. "You can't really mean to say you really want me gone?"

"Are you sure you want to be a superhero?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest. "You seem to have a pretty good chance at making it as an actor."

He grinned and struck a pose. "Why? Because I'm so handsome?"

She pursed her lips, "Because you're such a ham." A moment later, she narrowed her eyes at him. "And don't think I haven't realized that you've changed the subject several times," she pointed out recriminatorily.

"That depends on what you think the subject is, doesn't it?" he asked, without missing a beat.

She didn't buy it for a second. "The subject is what it has been since I walked in here, that you shanghaied yourself into what you perceive to be my romantic problems when you've got issues of your own to deal with."

"I have issue with so many parts of that sentence I just don't know where to start," he said, his tone filled with amused disbelief.

"Why don't we stick to the subject?" she asked sarcastically.

He cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms, a half smile on his lips, "You mean the subject you say deals with your overwhelming guilt about sidetracking me from my initial reason to come to Jump?"

"Exactly," she confirmed.

He raised his brows, "If you want to know why I came to Jump and what my personal business is all you have to do is ask."

If she had less control over herself, she might have stuttered in surprise. Seeing as how Raven has excellent control over her reactions, there was only the smallest infinitesimal second where her eyes popped open in a show of the surprise she was feeling before she controlled it and crossed her arms over her chest, her expression calm and inexpressive. "Why would I want to do that?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You're curious, admit it."

She merely raised her own brows. "Unlike some people, I don't believe in prying into people's private affairs," she said haughtily.

The wicked smile was back on his lips, the smile she was starting to recognize meant he thought he had the upper hand or a brilliant idea and always ended up meaning trouble for her. He approached her slowly, regaining the space between them she had unconsciously carved out. "Unlike some people," he said mimicking her tone, "I believe that someone asking over my _private_ _affairs_ shows concern on their part."

"Doesn't anything bother you?" she asked, seemingly before she could control herself.

There was the flicker of the seriousness come and go across his expression before he met her gaze and nodded very solemly, "Plenty," he admitted. He had cornered her agains the back of the couch and she couldn't walk any further away from him despite the fact he kept approaching. When the backs of her knees hit the back of the couch, he stopped a few inches away from her. "Now if you want to know what, you'll have to actually ask me a personal question..." he raised his brows in teasing expectation, "Are you up for that, you think?"

She narrowed her eyes at the challenge and opened her mouth to speak when she stopped and cocked her head to the side, as if she were hearing something far away that he couldn't hear, her expression going from half-amused annoyance to the considering face of Raven the Titan in five seconds flat.

He reached out with his own senses, trying to find what had caught her attention but he couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. "What is it?" he asked.

Apparently finding what she was looking for, she almost visibly relaxed and turned back to him. "The others are back," she announced.

"How do you do that?" he wondered.

She raised a brow as if she couldn't believe he had asked such a thing. "Empath?"

"Oh yeah," he said wryly. He clapped and was all business again. "Alright, so how long until they get here?"

"I said I was an empath, not some sort of human heat sensor. I can only tell they're in the Tower, the lower levels."

"Then that means we haven't got much time to put on a convincing show for when they get up here, doesn't it?" he asked, approaching her with that look that spoke volumes about the level of his concentration and intent.

She took a step back and looked a question at him. "If you think we're going to..."

He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed, smiling down at her, "I'm just going to hug you," he said in the tone of voice reserved for talking to people on the edge. "Is that alright?" Before she could answer, he slipped his arms around her and linked his hands at her back. She was as stiff as a board.

She really didn't know what to do. She could smell the faint whiff of her soap on his skin, the steady thump of his heart at his pulse points and the crisp earthiness of his aura like the feel of Autumn on her tongue. He chuckled and she felt the vibrations of it through his chest.

"This isn't going to work..." he spoke and she heard his voice muffled as through water.

And then he pulled back and his arms slipped away and it felt to her as if she'd been suddenly thrust into nothingness after being surrounded by life. It was very disconcerting, to say the least. Which was, of course, why she was so very pliant as he took her wrists in his hands and wrapped her own arms around his waist, linking her hands together as if she were a belt he were putting on.

He took her chin in his hand and as her face was raised to look up at his masked eyes, she blinked in surprise at finding him so very close.

"Now..." he spoke in that same oh-so-patient voice. "How about a smile?"

Finally gathering her wits about her, she raised a brow and offered him a very patient look.

"Aw, c'mon," he cajoled, "This isn't so bad is it?"

Even though her first reaction was to respond that it was, (irregardless of the fact that it wasn't exactly '_bad_' per se, just...disconcerting) his almost childlike expression prevented her from being so blunt about it. "I feel like a belt," she noted instead.

"A belt?" he asked, raising a brow.

She moved her arms, but didn't unlink them. He laughed, throwing his head back and she could feel the laugh move through his body and when she looked up at him, it was to curiously detail the line of his throat. When his laughter had died down and he had lowered his head to look at her again, she had to remind herself of what they were speaking of in order to continue her previous train of thought.

"I would trade a dozen of Boy Wonder's utility belts if I could put you on like this every day instead," he said, the smile on his lips reaching all the way through his words.

There was something almost charming about the statement, and perhaps it was the way the smile was the kind she was coming to recognize as his _real_ smile that made her think he was sincere. "I doubt a Raven Belt would be as useful, though."

Speedy chuckled, "But a helluva lot prettier, though."

And the wryness of his tone broke through her self-imposed facial serenity and before she knew it, she was smiling. It wasn't a big smile, or a bright smile, just a slight shifting of the lines of her lips, the corners raising just a bit, she wasn't even showing teeth, but at the sight of it, Speedy beamed.

"See?" Speedy asked, smiling down at her, "That's all I wanted." He shrugged and since his arms were still around her, it made her almost shrug with him. "Just a smile."

Her own arms still where he had put them, she narrowed her eyes at him, the small smile still lingering about the corners of her lips. "No," she argued. "You're a pervert and you probably wanted something else, but that's all your getting."

Sometime after his uproarious laughter and her smile, the Titans had found their way to the main room. Raven had, of course, felt their presence so close to them, but she was so used to their presence and having forgotten about the fact they were supposed to be playing a role, she had registered their arrival much like one registers the sounds of cars passing on the street through a window—white noise.

But Beast Boy's exclamation, "_That_ is _so_ ultra weird," which was probably louder than the others would have liked, certainly brought their presence to the forefront.

Having been so thoroughly caught off guard as to their presence, Raven's first reaction, understandably, was to pull away from the embrace. Speedy, however, tightened his arms and stopped her, giving her a meaningful look which reminded her instantaneously of their role. When she relaxed in his hold, he slowly removed his arms from around her and she was able to turn around to face her teammates.

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy stood as if frozen in that space between the elevator and the living room. Raven noted their brown paper bags full of groceries each of them carried and she remembered suddenly that it was Saturday and that they always went grocery shopping on Saturday mornings.

"Hey, guys," Speedy spoke into the silence, slipping an arm comfortably around Raven's shoulder, "finally decided to show up, huh?" he asked casually.

Beast Boy, being the easiest one to be adaptable to a new situation, had already pretty much accepted Speedy's presence in their home rather readily. "You guys are the ones that slept in passed a normal hour!" he was therefore able to declare, being the first to enter the room.

"Says the one who sleeps until two in the afternoon...regularly," Raven countered.

"And he doesn't even have a cute girl to cuddle with," Speedy added casually.

Raven and Beast Boy _both_ blushed and Speedy impulsively kissed her cheek, "I love making her blush..." he told Beast Boy, winking at him as he let her go and walked toward Robin and Starfire, holding his hands out for a share of the packages they were carrying. "Can I help?" he asked.

"Of course!" Starfire answered, handing him three of the heavy packages which Speedy almost buckled under the weight of.

He chuckled dryly, "Uh, yeah...forgot about your strength Star..." he groaned, "Maybe _you_ should help _me_?" he asked playfully.

Since Star was still carrying three grocery bags, she laughed, recognizing his joke. "I will show you where to deposit them, follow me please!" she said cheerfully, floating off in the direction of the kitchen.

Speedy glanced back at Raven who allowed a small smile before shrugging and he smiled and followed Starfire, carrying the bags with a lot more ease than he had initially pretended, whistling a merry tune as he went.

Which left Cyborg, Robin, and Beast Boy looking at Raven, all four teens obviously uncomfortable.

"I should go help them," Raven finally spoke, starting toward the kitchen.

"Rae," Cyborg called seriously.

She looked at him and after a moment, smiled- a soft, sincere, _small_, but pure Raven Smile. "I know," she assured him.

Cyborg and she kept eye contact for a few moments more before he blushed a little and grinned, scratching at the back of his head, "Well, alright then," he said happily and let her go.

"What the hell was that all about?" Beast Boy asked as Raven entered the kitchen.

"Is that all you're going to say?" Robin pressed.

Cyborg looked at Robin seriously, "All I had to tell her was that I was here in case she needed me, for anything, and to be careful, and she got that, so what else is there to say?" he asked.

"I didn't hear any of that," Beast Boy pointed out, but both Robin and Cyborg ignored him.

"I don't know, Cy, I thought..." Robin trailed off and exhaled.

"If there's something else _you_ gotta tell her, then that's your thing, man...not mine," Cyborg said pointedly, walking past Robin with no more than a hand on his shoulder, "I'm gonna help them in the kitchen."

Beast Boy looked at Robin for a while, then in the direction Cyborg had gone, then back to Robin and sighed, "I never understand what the hell's going on."

Robin turned to him and the expression on his face was not pleasant, "Do you get that Raven's screwing Speedy?" he asked, his tone even. When Beast Boy's eyes opened at the suddenness of it, Robin sighed and shook his head, "Forget it." He started to walk away, but Beast Boy's hand was on his arm.

Finding Robin's attention on him, Beast Boy let him go but when Robin started walking again, Beast Boy spoke up, "What I got was that Speedy's making Raven happy." Robin stopped and Beast Boy exhaled, realizing he had said the right thing. "And I get that Cyborg was worried about Rae getting hurt again," he continued, "But you know, that's something no one can protect us from...getting hurt again...not even ourselves." Beast Boy realized that Robin hadn't moved still, "What I don't get," he said, wincing (_was he really going to say this?)_ "is what's got your tights in a twist about it?" He grimaced and closed his eyes, expecting any sort of backlash or being told to shut up or who knew what, but when a few moments passed and nothing happened, he opened his eyes to slits and found that he was by himself in the room.

"Well, that coulda gone worse," he said to himself. "Might've gone better..." he trailed off and shrugged, deciding to follow the others into the kitchen and see what they were up to.

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**A/N:** Could BB have said something intelligent?


	8. Chapter 7: The Game

**A/N:** Okay, I actually like this chapter, BUT, I do not fail to realize that it is (or, at least most of it is) a filler chapter. So, I warn you.

The next chapter though is going to be a KICKER. I promise!

I want to work on the next chapter of Echoes next, but I don't know if that'll work out. The next Lemon is _almost_ done. But the first draft of the next Estranged is already done, so I might just get around to editing and filling in gaps for that one.

**SPECIAL NOTE:** I put up a poll on my emsscraps. Just out of curiosity, I am letting you guys vote on who Raven should stay with. You can find it here: (remove the spaces) http // emsscraps . livejournal . com / 37339 . html

**Thanks:** On 'emsscraps' if not tonight, then tomorrow.

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 7: The Game  
**__**by Em**_

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_"Please don't ask me what the score is, I'm not even sure what the game is."  
- _Ashleigh Brilliant

"Score!"

Beast Boy fell out of kangaroo form with a groan as his attempt to hit the ball Speedy had sent sailing over the net failed. "I don't think I like playing with you," he whined.

Speedy laughed as he walked to the side of the court where Raven was watching the game with a sort of half-hearted interest. "I don't blame you," Speedy said playfully. "No one likes to get their butt whooped all the time."

"That's it," Cyborg demanded, pointing at Beast Boy. "Go get the ball, Green Bean. Carrot Top's going down."

Starfire giggled and jumped about in excitement at being on the currently winning team. "We are whooping the butt!"

Speedy laughed and leaned down to grab his water bottle, casually pecking Raven on the forehead before standing up to drink. "What do you say we teach these guys a lesson, eh, Star?"

"I am _most_ ready to down their smack," Star enthused.

Speedy grinned and waggled his eyebrows at Raven. Raven, who knew exactly what the look was about, couldn't help but offer him the smallest of smiles.

"Oh, Starfire is NOT trying us!" Beast Boy exclaimed, jogging up with the volleyball in his hand.

"She is," Cyborg said in surprise. "Starfire _is_ trying us," he confirmed.

"Oh, hell no," Beast Boy said. "I think it's time we got serious."

"So, what?" Speedy asked, strutting back to his side of the net. "You were _letting_ us win the last half hour?"

"Uh..." Beast Boy hedged, looking at Cyborg.

"We were just gettin' warmed up, is all," Cyborg said. "B, you serve."

"That's right!" Beast Boy enthused, going to his place. "Just getting warmed up, you'll see, we'll kick your butts, yet!"

Speedy grinned at him, making his right hand open and close like a flapping mouth.

Raven watched, amused despite herself at the easy camaraderie and tried not to notice the fact that Robin hadn't appeared since they had left him in the common room and gone to help put away the groceries. Her instinct was to go searching for him. It was what she would normally do if he was upset about something after all, but before she could decide on getting up and finding him, Speedy's jubilant cheer mingled with Star's and the ball sailed passed Beast Boy and off the roof.

Speedy disentangled himself from Star's hug and met Raven's eyes, winking. Raven nodded her head and clapped, and although it was less than enthusiastic, it was not sarcastic, which had every eye on the court looking at her.

Speedy walked to her and raised a brow, "Could it be I impressed the unflappable Raven?" he asked playfully.

"It was a decent save," she allowed, "but taking it from a save to a spike took quite a bit of talent."

Starfire rushed at Raven and encompassed her in a hug.

"Hey!" Beast Boy exclaimed, returning with the ball. "You should be rooting for the home team!"

"Starfire isn't the home team?" Raven asked pointedly.

"Well...yeah...I guess..." Beast Boy seemed confused.

"Just play," Cyborg said, smacking him with a well aimed ball.

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Sometime later, neither Speedy nor Starfire were quick enough to stop the ball the green ape slammed over the net from bouncing on the court, evening the score.

There was much rejoicing on the left side of the net and many catcalls on the right. And when it died down, they heard Raven's reaction:

"Boo," she said unenthusiastically. "Hiss."

Speedy laughed and ran to pick her up from where she was sitting on the ground. "That's my girl!" he exclaimed, twirling her about.

"Put me down, please," Raven insisted.

"No problemo sweetikins," he said, putting her down on the ground but keeping his arms around her. "So long as you keep cheering for me."

" I'll be Cheerleader Barbie if you just promise never to use the word _sweetikins_ again," Raven assured.

"Hey, are we gonna play or are you two gonna make out?" Beast Boy asked and before they could answer, Cy's hand fell heavily on Speedy's shoulder.

"Oh, we're gonna play, isn't that right, Speedy?" Cyborg asked meaningfully.

"We're playing, we're playing," Speedy confirmed laughingly, releasing Raven with a chaste peck on her cheek.

Cyborg glared at him as they walked back to the court.

Raven turned around to find her previous seat, but stopped before she could take even one step. Robin stood against the door and her eyes locked onto him for a charged moment. Why was she so surprised to see him there? And why did she get a chill at the set of his jaw? It looked as if he might be staring at her, but due to the mask, she couldn't be sure. Just in case, she nodded a greeting at him and took the last few steps to where her seat was marked by the presence of Speedy's water bottle and towel, turned around, and took a seat, curling her legs into her usual position automatically.

Not too long afterward, as the volleyball sailed back and forth over the net from one side to the other in a flurry of volleys and spikes, Robin sat down next to her.

"Who's winning?"

Surprised more than a little at hearing Robin's voice directed at her in a civil manner, it took her a moment to answer. "They're tied," she said. "One point away from the--"

Before she could finish her sentence, the ball smacked onto the court on Beast Boy and Cyborg's side of the net, bouncing a few times with the force of it.

"Aw, maaaan!" Beast Boy exclaimed, falling on his face from the momentum of the failed save.

"Alright!" Speedy exclaimed excitedly.

"Victory!" Star flew into the air.

Raven smirked at the looks on BB and Cy's faces and when Speedy looked at her, she clapped.

Speedy came up to them and Raven stood to meet him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Robin stand too. "You call that cheering, darling?" Speedy asked his eyes on Raven and his hand casually removing a stray hair from her cheek.

"If you prefer I can remain silent on the matter entirely," Raven answered.

He laughed, "No, don't do that, you're cute as Cheerleader Barbie." He seemed to notice Robin standing next to Raven for the first time as he bent to grab his water bottle. "Hey, Rob," he greeted good-naturedly before drinking thirstily.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed, flying up to them. "Did you see our joyous victory?"

Robin was about to answer her when Cyborg came up behind him. "Hey man," Cyborg greeted. "You wanna play winner?"

Speedy draped an arm around Raven's shoulders and looked at his watch, shaking his head. "Sorry, I'd love to oblige," he explained, "But we need to start getting ready to make the club tonight." He looked at Raven who nodded.

"Club?" Beast Boy asked, pointed ear almost visibly perking up.

"Yeah, I'm taking Rae to _Club Gash(1)_ tonight. They're having a CD Release Party for _Razor's Edge(2)_."

"Ooooh! Duuuuude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "I love _Razor's_ _Edge_!" Beast Boy morphed into a puppy dog and looked from Speedy to Raven with genuine puppy eyes, tongue lolling and whining softly.

"Well..." Speedy looked at Raven who shrugged almost imperceptibly, then back at their friends. "I could get you guys on the guest list and you could come along if you want?"

"I want! I want!" Beast Boy exclaimed, coming out of dog form with a jump of excitement.

"I would enjoy going as well," Starfire agreed.

Speedy nodded at them then turned to Cyborg and Robin. "Cy? Rob? You guys in too?"

Cyborg nodded. "Sure, sounds like fun."

Robin looked for a brief moment as if he would decline, and then Raven looked at him. He had the sudden irrational thought that it was the first time she'd really looked at him in days. "I'm in."

"Great!" Speedy enthused. "Sounds like a party, huh, schnuckums?" he asked Raven who glared and pinched his side. "Okay, okay, no schnuckums, got it," Speedy said, rubbing at where she pinched just at his ribs. He looked at their friends. "I'll call and put you on the list, but you all better start getting ready cause we need to be inside before 10 and it'll take us some time to get downtown." He grinned at Raven and waggled his eyebrows, "Although Raven and I call dibbs on the shower first."

Cyborg sputtered, having trouble picking between the different threats that sprung immediately to mind, Starfire giggled, turning bright pink adorably, Beast Boy made gagging noises and Robin glared.

Raven, however, was too busy glaring at Speedy herself to notice any of it. "_I_ call dibbs on the shower first," Raven corrected. "You can be last for all I care." She started to walk away. "And you should use the boy's shower from now on anyway."

"Not Beast Boy's shower!" Speedy called in desperation. He followed her and the others started walking too. "You cannot be _sooo_ cruel!" he called after her over-dramatically.

"Ham," Raven said under her breath, continuing to walk and not one bit moved.

"You may use our bathing room, Friend Speedy," Star said laughingly.

"At least someone here takes pity on poor me," Speedy said pouting in Raven's direction. "And hey, what do you mean I've gotta be last? I called dibbs first! You wouldn't even have _thought_ to call dibbs if I didn't call it out first."

"Fine, so you can go after me and Star," Raven conceded.

"If I'm using your bathroom, then I am going last if I go after you and Star!" he pointed out.

Raven's only concession to his apparent dilemma was to pause to wait for him to catch up. "It _is_ our shower," she pointed out reasonably.

"So, I should get it first as the guest!" Speedy said brightly. "Thanks so much Rae, bye!" and he dashed off toward the bathroom.

"Oh, no you don't!" Raven insisted, disappearing into a portal.

By the time the rest of them walked close enough to the hallway with the shower it was to see Speedy glaring at the door. "Using your powers is NOT sportsmanlike, Raven."

"And getting a head start is?" they heard Raven's answer, muffled behind the door.

"If you'd let me in there with you we wouldn't be having this problem," he said cajolingly through the door.

"We don't have to have it now," Raven answered. "Watch," she said, and the next sound heard was the starting up of the shower.

Grinning, Speedy turned to watch the rest of the Titans staring at him.

"Looks like she beat you this round, eh, Speedster?" Beast Boy asked jokingly.

"Maybe," Speedy said. "But she was in such a hurry to beat me there that she didn't take any clothes with her into the shower, did she?" he asked, winking broadly at Beast Boy. He turned around and started for her room, whistling as he did.

"Why that!" Cyborg exclaimed, starting after Speedy, "I'm gonna kill 'im!"

Only to be stopped by Starfire's hand on his chest. "He doesn't seem to be forcing her, does he?" she asked meaningfully.

Cyborg huffed and puffed for a few minutes before exhaling, "I've gotta go fix something," he decided, stomping off in the direction of his own rooms.

Starfire went off toward her room as well to gather her bathing supplies in preparation of her turn in the shower which left Robin and Beast Boy still milling about.

Beast Boy extended his hand in front of Robin. "I'll Rock – Paper- Scissors you for the shower."

"You take it," Robin said, heading off toward his room.

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**Notes:**

(1) I made this up.

(2) I made this band up too. I didn't want to use a real one.


	9. Chapter 8: Truths and Revelations

**A/N:** Damn. I hadn't updated this story since November. I'm so sorry, guys, but the truth is, it didn't feel that long to me because so much has been going on, not to mention that I've been writing this chapter almost since the moment I posted the last one. No excuse, I realize that. BUT...this chapter IS 26 pages in word and it really _is_ a doozie. A LOT of stuff happens in it, so I just wanted to get it right.

Also, I did the best I could self-beta'ing this sucker. So, if you find any glaring errors, please feel free to point them out, yeah? I'll appreciate it muchly. ((GRIN))

**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT**: **_Absentia_** (user ID: 386797) has been a HUGE help for this story. She was with me when I was just hashing out ideas before I started to post it, and as I mentioned before, during her first read through of the scene where Cyborg starts acting out because Speedy is the one that Raven supposedly has the hots for, it was Abbie's comments that I used as Cyborg's toward Speedy. THIS chapter, however, is special, because a large CHUNK of it was written by Abbie herself. She wrote the scene I'm talking about independent of the rest of the story (since a lot of the story hadn't been developed yet when she wrote it) so when I found the perfect place to use it, I just had to sort of adapt what she wrote to the situation. So that scene (which beginning will be marked by _(a)_ and an _(/a)_ at the end) was written by her and I just adapted it to fit the situation.

**Thanks:** In general, to **_Absentia_** (for the reasons mentioned above) and **_Kysra_** for being a great sounding board and at least trying to be objective where Speedy's concerned. Also, for reading through it and being my plot beta on this one. ((HUUUG)) Both these ladies have been wonderful in staying up with me to discuss plot ideas I wasn't certain of, let me bounce possibilities off them and even, in some cases, threaten me when necessary. Love ya both, huns!

Individually, they'll be up on 'emsscraps' tomorrow – probably. I'll try. There's a whole lotta 'em. ((goofy grin))

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_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 8: Truths and Revelations  
**__**by Em (and Absentia)**_

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"_If you greatly desire something, have the guts to stake everything on obtaining it."  
_- Brendan Francis

In retrospect, it was quite surprising that she held out as long as she did.

After all, the whole night had been wrought with things Raven did not want to do.

To start out with, she didn't even want to go to the club, despite the fact that she did enjoy the band that was being promoted. Still, Speedy had said that they had to do more things as a couple in front of the others and going out on a date to a club was a 'normal couple thing' to do. He would know, and who was _she_ to argue? It wasn't like she had any basis for comparison. And really, telling the others they were going to a club wasn't as bad as actually going to the club with the others. Even if they ended up actually _going_ to the club, if they were alone, they wouldn't have to put on this facade and could theoretically just enjoy hanging out.

As surprising as it was to her, Raven was finding she could do that quite comfortably with Speedy.

Notably, _not_ with Speedy the Lover/Boyfriend.

Not that he changed his attitude toward her or his treatment of her. Not really. He was always attentive and always mildly flirtatious even when they were alone. But he wasn't as touchy-feely and tended to respect her personal boundaries a lot more than he did when they were playacting as lovers. She understood, of course. That didn't mean she liked it.

But she was supposed to. And, okay, it wasn't unpleasant, but holding hands, hugging, letting a guy put his arm around her, that just wasn't the kinds of things she did. It was bad enough she was expected to accept it, welcome it, like it, which was hard enough in its own right to deal with the constantly intruding physical presence of another, but when he was dressed the way he had dressed to go to the club in distressed faded black jeans, ripped in just the right strategic places and a blood red sleeveless muscle tee which showed off the muscles of his shoulders and arms to perfection? It was practically torturous.

She _was_ a heterosexual female, after all, and she hadn't been completely lying when she had said she found Speedy attractive. She did. How could she not? But sweet Azar, had he really _had_ to wear the leather cuffs around his wrists that had brought such attention to his hands? (Yet another thing she hadn't lied about.) Oh, but that wasn't all. Not by a long shot. She mustn't forget the black leather collar around his well toned neck, either. Some part of her was very tempted to wonder what he'd do if she slipped a leash onto the silver loop there for just that purpose, but she stomped it down viciously.

Then, to top it all off, _she_ had to wear the ridiculously short skirt and blouse ensemble Speedy had picked out as the only possible thing she could wear to a club. She wasn't quite sure how he did it, but despite her very adamant protests, the archer had connived her into wearing the clothes, nonetheless. Objectively, she might have been impressed with his persuasive tactics. Subjectively, it was just more wood to the fire of her annoyance.

Surely, it was understandable that she was annoyed nearly beyond endurance. But she had control, and was able to maintain it valiantly throughout the first moments of seeing Speedy waiting by the door, during the other's comments about her outfit (even managing to stop herself from siding with Cyborg when he threatened to lock her in the white room if she didn't at least put on a jacket) and even the ride to the club on the back of Speedy's motorcycle (when all she could do was stare at his arms...and his back).

Of course, that wasn't, by any means, all. Oh, no.

She had thought when he had assured her that they would get a table in the VIP area of the front Lounge room of the club that she would at least be spared from the press and crush of people on the dancefloor. Mistakenly so, as it turned out, because they had done no more than find their table, take off their jackets and start to settle into the booth when Speedy pulled her back from sitting alongside her friends, offering them a flippant, "We look too hot to sit behind a table all night, Rae, let's dance!" as he pulled her in the direction of the dance floor, heedless of the fact that she did not want to dance (even if the music was surprisingly good).

Her claims of ignorance about dancing were pushed away by assurances of his teaching expertise and before she knew it, she found herself being led by Speedy's hands moving dangerously and yet perfectly decorously from her hips to her arms to the flat of her stomach to her hands again as he carried her through a series of steps that had her feeling more like a rag doll than a person.

Eventually, she started to move on her own, anticipating his movements so that she didn't feel like he was dragging her along, but understandably, by the time a few songs had played, she was hot and thirsty and not a little dizzy.

"C'mon, admit it, you were having fun!" Speedy spoke, close to her ear to be heard over the music as he followed her off the dancefloor.

"I'd prefer to listen to BB tell jokes all day," she answered, turning to speak into his ear.

Speedy kept his hand steady in hers as they walked, so as not to lose her in the crowd, but as they broke free of the sea of people into the lounge area, he still didn't let go. "Aw, c'mon," he prodded as the door closed behind them and the blaring of the music and the strobing lights shut off suddenly in their line of sight, leaving them both momentarily disoriented and with spots dancing in their vision. "You were really getting into that last set," he said, starting to walk them further into the lounge, his arm comfortably wrapping around her waist.

"It was good music," she admitted.

"And?" he prodded, smirking at her.

She looked away, absently searching out their table in the much less crowded lounge. "Maybe with a few hundred less people, it wouldn't be so bad," she admitted. She had just caught sight of the table and it's lone occupant when Speedy stopped suddenly, by necessity, making her stop as well. She turned back to look a question at him.

"So you'd prefer it to be just me and you, is that it?" he asked. "On an empty dance floor," he neared her and slipped his other arm around her waist to complete the embrace. She resisted reacting. "Slow, sexy music," he continued, moving very softly, almost absently and moving her along with him.

She looked up at him and met his eyes, "Are those my only options?"

Speedy grinned and shook his head, "Way to take the romance out of things."

Raven cocked her head to look up at him, "Is it a surprise that I'm not a very romantic person?" she asked logically.

He looked for a moment as if he was considering how best to say something but she blinked and it was gone, replaced by a wry grin. "Then how about a drink?" he asked, removing his arms, "You must be thirsty."

She nodded and started for the bar, but he stopped her and turned her back toward their table.

"Alright, now go over there and finesse some reaction out of Wonder Lover." At her raised brow, he chuckled. "C'mon, you're a woman right?" He was smart enough _not_ to wait for her answer to that one, "Manipulate him. Let's see some jealousy!" With a sharp double clap, a wicked grin, and a light shove at the small of her lower back, he was gone.

Raven watched him go for a moment and thought about following him but he disappeared around a gaggle of socialites and she shook herself of the urge. She had enough to worry about with her latest directive. Finesse some reaction? How in Azar's name was she supposed to do that? "Yes, because I am so the master manipulator, Speedy," she mumbled to herself, walking toward the table.

Robin was silent as she approached the table, so, strangely enough, she found herself searching for a way to fill it. "You certainly appear to be enjoying yourself," Raven drolled, sliding into the booth across from Robin.

Considering he had never taken his eyes from her even as she approached, the nearness of him made the gaze all the more potent.

"Not as much as some," Robin answered, his tone neutral, before taking a sip of the drink in front of him.

Raven was seriously tempted to call him on his comment, but she remembered Speedy's advice just in time to keep her comment neutral. "Hm," Raven agreed, and leaned back into the thick pleather of the booth seat. "Well," she continued when she noted he wouldn't. "You could drop Kori in a closet and tell her it was a party and she'd find a way to have fun and Vic is easily the best dancer out there, but who would've thought Gar would be so popular with the punk set?" she mused.

"I'm surprised you've remembered the others are even around, let alone noticed enough about their activities for the past hour," Robin stated casually. "Doesn't your boyfriend mind that he doesn't have your undivided attention?"

Although his words were common and his tone casual, she felt the bite of them nonetheless. But she couldn't figure out why. Speedy couldn't be right, could he? Robin couldn't really be jealous. Raven frowned. "Roy's not my boyfriend," she answered, "But even if he were, why should he mind if I'm looking out for my friends?" she questioned. "_He_ invited you."

"I don't know," Robin answered. "I guess I'd have to know why he invited us in the first place to answer that one."

Raven didn't doubt that Robin had picked up on the fact that Speedy had ulterior motives for inviting the others that night, but she knew he couldn't possibly have guessed what that reason was. Once again, she was tempted with her natural instinct to bring up Robin's attitude. And once again, she thought better of it and followed Speedy's advice, and only a small part of her wondered at whether she was following Speedy's advice because she thought he was right or because she didn't really want to face Robin about the real issue at all. She sighed and decided to change the subject.

Even if she was starting to chafe under the hard weight of his disapproval.

"Well, that is a relatively easy question to answer," she stated, her tone only slightly annoyed. "Considering Garfield essentially invited himself, I suppose he invited the rest of you to be nice."

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, his tone perfectly devoid of emotion to a casual observer.

"Why would I want that?" she asked.

"As you've mentioned, Roy invited us _to be nice_, not you, so if you'd rather be alone with him—"

"If I wanted to be alone with him, we'd still be in our bedroom," she said, unable to keep the sharpness out of her tone. She wanted to keep to the neutral topics, but that plan hadn't worked out too well so far and she was never one to make small talk to begin with. "What I can't figure out is why you decided to come in the first place," she said, her tone back to believably conversational. "Everyone seemed excited to come tonight, except for you," she leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Gar likes the band and he loves clubs, Kori enjoys dancing, and Vic's here playing chaperon...but you're obviously not here for the dancing or, apparently, the company, so..." she trailed off and cocked her head to the side to better gage his reaction, "Why _did_ you come?"

"I think we had that in common," he spoke after a few moments' consideration.

He hadn't answered her question at all. "What?" she asked.

"You said everyone was excited about coming here tonight except me, but you weren't excited either, were you?" he asked.

She leaned back. "Whatever," she said. If he wasn't going to answer her question, she certainly wasn't going to answer his. "Do what you like, Richard," she said, looking away from him toward the bar where Speedy's bright orange head of easily distinguishable hair was nowhere to be seen. She started to wonder why it was taking Speedy so long to get a couple of drinks. "Leave, stay, far be it from me to keep you." She had just decided to stand up and brave the crowds to find Speedy herself, or at the very least, Star or Cyborg on the dancefloor, when Robin spoke again.

"Why _did_ you come?" he asked, seemingly out of the blue.

She met his naked eyes again and felt, as she always did, a sharp momentary pang of _something, _something akin to panic, the same something she felt every time he fixed her with the strength of that stare, whenever their eyes met in anything more than a casual glance. It had only been recently that she had thought she had figured out the name of what she felt when he looked at her that way: attraction. Want.

It had been a hard thing to admit to herself, that she was attracted to her leader, and she didn't like it one bit. Mentally, she reaffirmed her vow to find Chang and teach him a thing or two about truths.

Outwardly, however, her expression didn't change. "Oh, so you don't have to answer me but I have to answer you, is that it?" she asked, crossing her arms at her chest.

"You hate clubs," he said.

She sighed, "But I like the band."

"And you really hate crowds."

"I can deal with it," she answered.

"You don't like the band enough to _want_ to deal with it," he countered.

She felt the anger rise again, like a wave that had only briefly receded. "You sound very sure of yourself," she pointed out.

"Am I wrong?" he asked, the look in his eyes challenging her to lie to him.

It was a purely prideful instinct that spurred her answer and prevented her from confirming how well he knew her. "Obviously," she lied. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Not just for the band," he insisted. "For Roy, maybe."

She was completely thrown by the sound of his voice when he said that, and she had no clue how to read it until he spoke again.

"I think Roy wanted to come here tonight and he convinced you, somehow, to come."

'How dare he?' she thought, her expression turning cold with the extent of her anger. How dare he insinuate that she would do something he was so certain she hated just because someone, anyone, convinced her? How dare he insinuate that her will was less than her own? Despite the fact that, in the strictest sense, he was right, it was not the way he was insinuating and she refused to allow him to make such assumptions.

"He didn't have to _convince_ me," she said, unable to keep the sarcastic bite from her tone. "He asked me if I wanted to come to this club to hear this band and I said yes. That simple. I may not normally want to come to a place like this, but it's called compromise." She raised a brow. "Ever heard of it?"

Robin lifted his own eyebrows in an expression eerily similar to her own. "Well, I'm just _dying_ to know what he could've done or promised to get you here, especially since I – we – practically have to beg to get you into the living room during movie nights."

It suddenly dawned on her that although he did sound jealous, it wasn't exactly the way Speedy might have intended. She knew Robin was incredibly loyal to his teammates and friends, but she had never thought he might consider her affiliation with a member of Titans East as any sort of disloyalty. At least, not until that moment. It occurred to her then, that perhaps Robin thought she was being disloyal to her Titans by preferring to spend so much time with Speedy instead of them, by willingly doing things with Speedy her Titans would have to convince and cajole her to do. Of course, she couldn't tell him that she wasn't exactly doing these things willingly with Speedy, either.

So, what was left?

How could she tell him that she wasn't being disloyal? What reason could she give him to assure him that she wasn't shifting loyalties by doing things willingly with Speedy the others would have to convince her to do? She couldn't think of a damn thing to say. If she told him she just _liked_ doing these things with Speedy that would prove what she thought his point was about her being disloyal and if she said she allowed herself to be convinced, even though she didn't _want_ to do it, then it would prove his point that she was so weak willed she would do anything the man in her life asked her to just to please him. Gods, as if she lived in a dime store romance!

And she certainly couldn't tell him the truth.

Lacking any means by which to deal with the deeper issue, she decided to answer his surface question instead. "He came with me to a blues club the other night," she said honestly.

"You expect me to believe that's it?" he asked.

She frowned, "Believe what you like," she said tiredly. He, apparently did, anyway.

"We would've gone with you," he said.

Her expression softened the briefest hint, but he couldn't have noticed it in the muted lighting of the lounge. "I know," she answered. "But you didn't, he did."

Robin shook his head. "You've never asked any of us to go with you."

She sighed. "I never asked him either," she countered, surprising herself with the truth of it. She _hadn't _asked Speedy to go into the blues club. He had seen her looking at it as they were walking that first night out and he had steered her toward it and into a chair by the stage before she had realized what was going on. Outwardly, she shrugged. "So if he wants to come dancing for a few hours to a club where I like the music, I'll deal, even if I don't like the crush of people." She shook her head and exhaled, "I'll deal, because he made sure I'd have a place to take a breather from the people," she motioned the table they were sitting at, "and because _Azar_ knows he hated the blues they played the other night, but not because he complained." She was so stunned by her truthful response she failed to notice Robin's surprise.

"How about my question, now?" she asked. "Now that you know why I'm here, care to tell me why you're here?"

She could see the answers warring inside him, as he thought out which would be the best one for whatever his purpose was. She could practically hear the gears in his head turning. She didn't understand why he didn't just answer her. Why all the hedging? Why the anger? "What are you thinking, Richard?" she asked, surprising even herself with the question.

He seemed as surprised by her question as she had been and it took him a moment before he spoke again, "Do you really want to know?" he asked. She started to nod and he leaned forward, his hands flat on the table. "Think about that, _Rachel_," he warned, his tone low and deep between them. "Really think about whether you _really_ want to know what I'm thinking--" he met her eyes and the intensity in them sent that panic like feeling in the pit of her stomach into spasms. She was caught, momentarily, shocked and slightly breathless. "Do you _really _want to know?"

Did she want to know? Yes, of course. Wasn't that what this all was about? But she couldn't say it aloud. What would change if he told her he was thinking about how disloyal she was being by being with Speedy? If he told her he was disappointed in her? Did she _really _want to know? How would their lives change?

She _hated_ change.

She had been comfortable with things the way they were. So maybe she wasn't euphoric, but she was content. She wasn't certain suddenly that she wanted to know at all, and she was angry at herself for that cowardice almost as much as she was at Robin for making her feel it and Speedy for putting her in this position in the first place.

So involved was she in his expression, in thinking about her possible answer, that she didn't feel Speedy's approach until he stood right next to her. She came out of her thoughts with a barely withheld start, breaking her staring match with Robin to look at the smiling face of the red-headed archer.

"I'm back," he announced as he approached. "Did ya miss me?" he asked Raven.

Raven took the orange concoction he handed her and realized with a shock, that she _was_ glad he was back, glad with a kind of force like relief. She didn't answer him, of course, because the surprise of that realization was only secondary to the very real desire she had to run away.

Used to her silences, Speedy didn't give Raven a chance to answer, but barreled on, apparently oblivious to the tension hanging in the air. "Thanks for looking out for my girl, Dick," he said, turning an entirely different smile to Robin.

Robin raised his gaze to Speedy and Raven frowned at the look on Robin's face – almost a mirror of the carefully neutral expression she often wore. "Your girl?" Robin asked, his tone deceptively casual.

But before Speedy could answer, Raven stood in one smooth motion. Since Speedy did not step back, it brought her flush with him and he slipped an arm around her back with effortless ease, looking down at her in expectation. Raven was getting used to how aware she was of wherever Speedy touched, but that warmth in his eyes whenever he looked at her always threw her, and it didn't matter that she knew it was only a game.

And that, ultimately, put the icing on her cake of a day. She stiffened minimally in his hold, and felt her stare go cold. "That's enough, Roy," she said quietly and Speedy was sure that Robin couldn't have heard it.

Speedy himself had never heard that tone to her voice before and he felt a surge of protectiveness at hearing it then. "No problem, sweetheart," he said, still in the light tone, so that Robin could hear him. "I would brave any number of jungles just to get you anything your heart desires," as if she had thanked him.

"How about Hell?" Robin asked suddenly. "Would you brave hell, Roy?"

Raven's eyebrows twitched briefly upwards, but she quickly clenched her jaw on her shock, refusing to show Robin the exact reaction he had been trying to provoke, holding instead very still in Speedy's arms, staring intently at the grooves of black thread in the stripe running down his shirt.

Speedy was quiet for long enough so that Raven found herself tilting her chin upward to search his expression, frowning when she found his lips twisting into a playful grin, "Sure," he answered off-handedly, "Why do you ask, Dick? Wanna race?"

She stiffened in Speedy's hold and he must have noticed because he looked down at her and met her eyes when she said, "Stop it, Roy," in the same calm tone, even Robin caught.

She didn't need this. Didn't need to hash out things she didn't want to remember or times she tried very hard to suppress. The fact that Speedy's expression and tone managed to remain lighthearted as if he hadn't heard her words or noticed her mood, save for a brief flick of a question racing behind his green eyes, only made her all the madder and she wanted nothing more than to end it all right then and there. So when she announced, "I'm through," in the same low voice and started to move away from him, she meant it in the fullest sense possible. She had taken more than her share, borne it all with an almost martyr-like grace, but she was through. She was through with clubbing, with Robin, even with Speedy himself.

She didn't know how she was going to go about ending it all or even what she'd do once it was ended, but it didn't matter. All that mattered to her in that moment, was to leave. But the press of his hold stilled her.

Speedy looked at her, searching her eyes and she just knew he had figured it out right then and there. She knew, after all, more than most, perhaps, that Speedy was not as oblivious or self-involved as he made it out to seem. He could read people pretty damn good for a non-empath. His gaze flicked to Robin and back to her and as she saw the understanding in his expression and thought he would finally let her go, maybe even drive her home. Instead, he grinned.

"Let's dance," Speedy announced as if he hadn't just seen anything out of the ordinary, or maybe as if he thought her mood could be appeased by a turn on the dancefloor.

For a brief moment, the surprise reigned on her features, but then she grit her teeth and with pure force of will, brought her expression back into neutral lines. "I'm. Going. Home," she repeated, still in that low voice and before he could say another word, she stepped out of his hold and walked away.

Speedy reached her just beyond sight of their table, cutting in front of her and forcing her to stop or collide against him. When she tried to sidestep past him, he reached out to hold her still. "Hey, wait a minute—" he started.

She shrugged out of his touch and looked up at him, "No, Speedy, I'm done with this. I'm going home. I'm done." She repeated, louder this time but still not so loud that they were drawing attention.

"What happened?" he asked and at her sharp shake of her head, he frowned. "Raven," he started, but she looked up at him and the cold fire in her eyes stopped him from saying anymore.

"I don't need this, Roy," she said. "I don't need any of it, if you had left things alone --"

"Come on," he said, starting to lead her the opposite way of the exit.

"I don't want to dance," she told him firmly, even as he led her anyway.

"We're not going to dance," he answered her. "We're going somewhere we can talk," he explained.

She let him lead her through the multitude, past the bathrooms, beyond the bar, sidestepping the side exit and heading toward, it seemed, the back of the club itself. His arm secure at her waist, he led her straight through the dancefloor, cutting them both with nearly effortless grace through the throngs of people who would otherwise have posed a veritable sea of obstacles. Raven looked up at Speedy even as they walked, surprised at the look of concern and determination on his profile.

It dawned on her how easily she forgot the very things she knew about Speedy before this whole fiasco started. He was worried about her, worried about whatever he had heard in her voice or sensed in her expression when she had announced she was going home. She had a moment of utter surprise before it occurred to her that she shouldn't be. Speedy was her friend. He had been for years. He didn't know her as well as some of her Titans knew her, but that was simple logistics. She had never doubted his friendship, so why should she have been surprised that he would worry about her? How easily had she forgotten that she considered him a friend before such a crazy scheme was put into action?

And just as the surprise started to erode the sharp edge of the frustration and anger that had been just under the surface all night, they came to the Bouncer-guarded doors of the V.I.P. room tucked in the back corner of the club. +

They stopped at a door blocked by a large, barrel-chested man with a professionally bored expression that lit into a sly grin at the sight of Speedy, his small, dark eyes twinkling merrily as he took stock of Raven at the archer's side.

_(a)_

"This her?" Not waiting for Speedy's reply, he switched his attention to Raven, giving her a congenial nod. "S'all right, babe. My niece ain't good with crowds, neither. Be nice if she gets herself a nice, considerate guy like yours, findin' you a place to take a breather an' all."

Raven's eyes widened, brows furrowing in consternation as Speedy smiled gratefully at the physically intimidating bouncer.

"Thanks, Steve, I promise we'll be out before the band needs it."

The bouncer winked and laid a finger conspiratorially against his lips. "Ah, no prob, you just let the lady take her time. I'll knock if the rock boys start headin' over," the man said, twisting the knob and stepping aside as the door swung open revealing the plushly appointed room beyond it.

Speedy waited and Raven walked on ahead, entering the semi-dark room, moving across silently despite the unaccustomed heels, on the lush carpeting to sit on the edge of a table. He followed her inside and closed the door behind him, shaking his head and cocking a wry, displeased half smile at her.

"Well, that went off like a bomb." He shoved a hand through his hair, "Damn, Raven, I said make him jealous, not pick a fight," he walked to the plate glass window along one side of the room, and without breaking his stride, flipped a switch, turning the clear glass into a one-way mirror. "What did you do," he asked, turning to her again, "Implicate sheep in his mother's family tree?"

She snapped. "Me?" she asked, jabbing a finger in Speedy's direction, her face stiff and scowling, abandoning all pretext of calm or control. It really was a miracle she lasted as long as she did. "This was _your _stupid idea, Speedy!" she accused. "I never wanted to do this in the first place, if you'll remember," she pointed out. "I didn't ask you to do this," she motioned around them, clearly meaning to encompass more than just their immediate surroundings. "Any of this," she added. "And I never wanted your help!" she exclaimed, taking another few steps toward him. "If you hadn't shown up on our doorstep with the worst timing, the after-effects of Chang's stupid Truth Serum would've worn off on its own and life would've gone on as it always had." She shook her head. "All I wanted was for you to ignore Starfire's bungled attempts at matchmaking us and Beast Boy's childish 'I've got a secret' teasing. You," and here she jabbed the finger actually into his chest, "could have left things as they were, like I asked, but you had to stick your fingers in and meddle."

Speedy's jaw clenched, stung, and his lips compressed. "Well pardon me for caring about you!" he countered, surprising them both with his chosen defense. "I wasn't about to let you sit there and do nothing."

"Why _not_?" Raven asked, throwing her hands in the air, exasperated. "Clearly you haven't been listening!" she insisted. "That is precisely what I wanted."

Speedy blew out a deep breath, running his hand over his hair and down the side of his face. His tone, when he spoke, was calm and subdued, as if there was a great weight to it. "Because, like I said," he started carefully. "I _care_ about you, Rae." He opened his arms wide and met her eyes. "Is it so bad for me to want you to be happy?" he asked. "For me to try and help that happen?"

Even now, Raven had to admit that it always surprised her to realize that people cared about her, that they worried about her or tried to do things for her happiness. She was getting used to this from her Titans, and knew that there were others beside them who were glad when she was content and sad when she was hurt, but that people outside of her immediate 'family' of the Titans West would try to go out of their way to make her happy? That they would so blatantly state that they cared about her caught her off-guard, always. It surprised and touched her whenever it happened. Both emotions worked to cool her anger and help her retain control.

She was still upset, there was no question about that, but she wasn't so ready to scream anymore and wasn't about to call him on every single thing she had perceived he had done wrong that night from the moment he had chosen to wear what he was wearing to leaving her alone with Robin. All things, she could now understand, were not really his fault at all. That didn't mean her keen perception didn't pick up that his reasoning was half assed and weak, and although she accepted that he did care about her, (she had considered him a friend even before this whole fiasco started) she was not blinded to the fact that he was not giving her the whole story.

"No. It isn't," she said quietly. "But that's not the only reason you came up with this ridiculous plan." She looked up at him. "You wanted to do it, but not just for me," she decided. "And don't bother denying it, Speedy," she warned when he would have interrupted her. She leaned back against the arm of a nearby couch and crossed her arms, giving him the stare he knew meant business. "So, why _are_ you so hot to help hook me up with Robin?" She peered at him, reading his expression and his posture, and the little tells of his twitchy fingers and tightened jaw, mistaking her intimate knowledge of him for her empathy. "What made you want this so bad for me?"

She watched as something almost physically drained out of Speedy and he slouched back against the wall, tilting his head ceiling ward and heaving a sigh, cousin to a groan. She could see the exact moment he realized she was on to him, the moment he decided that she knew him too well to believe any bullshit he might try to feed her and she knew that he would be honest with her now – maybe not completely, but enough.

There was a tense moment's thought, while he rubbed the knuckle of his thumb against his mouth, finally turning his eyes back to her patient, waiting expression, his own face carefully, so carefully, blank, finally deciding to tell her a version of the truth. "Well, if you really want to know..."

She raised her brows encouragingly and made a continue motion.

He smiled shortly, breaking off a rough chuckle, "I figured at least one of us ought to get lucky in love."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, "What do you mean?" she questioned, and when he didn't appear ready to answer that, she ventured a guess, "Has some girl actually gotten the better of Stupid Cupid and broken your heart?" She regretted her teasing tone when he didn't immediately respond with a grin, and her brows lowered to form a concerned, confused line over her eyes.

He gave another short laugh at her eternally sardonic wit. "No, nothing quite so simple as that." His hand, ever moving, rubbed at the back of his neck, hooked over his tense shoulder, pausing only when Raven came to stand against the wall beside him, her own arms crossed loosely about her waist, as she waited patiently for him to continue. "There's this girl." He ignored the look of 'there usually is' that Raven offered and continued. "She's...well, she's amazing." Raven raised a brow in skeptical question and he hastened to assure her, "Well, I wouldn't say she's perfect, because I know her better than that."

She chuckled in surprise at his admission and he smiled in return, "But I like her flaws and vices as much as I enjoy her charms." And suddenly, he can't face her as he continued to speak, so he looked away, his gaze only touching the plush red velvet of the furniture in the room, the champagne waiting in buckets of ice, the covered plates of cold hors d'oeuvres, but not really seeing them. "But the thing of it is," he hesitated for a moment, the words stuck in his throat, his mind telling him that he didn't have to go this far, that he could stop, while the other part urged him to speak. "She's my friend," he glanced at her, only to note she wasn't looking at him either. It occurred to him that she must have realized that it would only make it more difficult for him to speak if she did. "And one of the best I've got," he added, his gaze fixed on her profile, seeing the consideration on her features and knowing that it was only Raven's inherent sense of privacy that kept her from pressing him as to who the girl might be. "I'm lucky to have her," he said, smiling. But then Raven turned to him and he looked away, sighing, half his mouth unconsciously twisting to make a kind of torn, sad expression Raven hadn't seen before. "And if I ever told her how I feel, I wouldn't have her at all anymore," he said, no doubt to his voice or his expression, just a sad kind of acceptance. "So," he said on an exhale, "Since I'll never have her the way I want," he reasoned, "I'll settle for the way she'll let me."

Raven was silent a moment, then asked simply, quietly. "You love her?"

He sighed and wondered how he should answer that – how much of himself he should put out there – how much he could get away with concealing and protecting. "I don't know if I'd say I'm in love with her," he decided, carefully picking his words. He glanced at her and caught her look. "Well, I mean, I've never been _'in love',_" he hastened to explain. He could've stopped there. He saw it in her eyes, knew she was ready to accept that as her answer, but he couldn't let it go at that. He had to tell her as much of the truth as he dared, and he dared just a little bit more. So, he thumped the center of his chest twice with his first two fingers. "But there's more in here than there's ever been," he admitted, keeping her eyes when she turned them to him again. "good and bad," he added as an afterthought, "and the truth is, I don't think I could ever imagine it going away."

Raven's brows pursed, a frown that didn't touch her lips. "How do you know that you couldn't have her if you don't try?"

Speedy's smile was wry, and he can't look at Raven as he alters the story just a little. "Because she's got somebody already," he half-lied. "And the messed up part is, he's a really good guy." He clenched a fist and, realizing it, made a conscious effort to unclench it. "Most of the time anyway—when it counts, I mean," he laughed, but not like there was any humor in it, "If I didn't half hate him for having what I want so bad, we'd be really good friends, probably." He shook his head. "She's happy, and I'm happy for her, even if I wanna slug that guy every time he smiles at her." He bit back the vehemence that surprised him in the words so they came out clipped. "I mean, he cares about her, he really does, maybe even like I do," once again his hands were running through his hair, the haphazard style he'd worn for the club seemingly benefiting from the mistreatment rather than hurt by his unconscious nervous gesture. "but I don't think he really realizes just how fucking amazing she is." He leaned back against the wall / mirror again, head thumping back as he looked up at the dark ceiling in the semi-dark room. "He's got the most precious thing on earth and I don't think he really even knows it yet."

"Yet?" Raven questioned, her curiosity piqued.

Speedy sighed and thought suddenly that he'd been doing a lot of that lately, but Raven--and this conversation particularly--seem to be bringing it out in him. "Yeah, _yet,_" he confirmed and his head thumped against the wall again. "He will, though," he said, almost pensively. As if he had forgotten he was talking to her, but of course he hadn't. "I know he will."

"What if he doesn't?" Raven asked, studying his neutral face. "What will you do?"

Speedy pushed off from the wall, turned to grin at her, digging up that same cocksure, bullshit-shoveling grin from somewhere. "Same thing I've been doing, I suppose," he admitted, as if it weren't his heart he was talking about at all. "Wait for my chance."

"And that's all?"Raven asked skeptically, brows raised.

He couldn't help but smile at her inquisitive tone and it made his words come out with a kind of bittersweet _something_ running in the undercurrent that he wasn't sure she didn't catch. "It's all I can do."

Raven stood beside him quietly for several moments, and he was amazed at how easily he could read her, how clearly he could see the thoughts and scenarios running through her head, the options being thought up and discarded or set aside. Eventually, she sighed herself and he thought, rather inanely, at how it seemed to be contagious.

"Alright," she said decisively, the way she always spoke when she had come to a serious decision. "We'll keep this little charade going, and I'll work harder from now on, so you're not doing it all by yourself." She glanced almost carelessly at him and graced him with a little bright smile. He smiled in return, treasuring the rare gift of a spontaneous RavenSmile. "It should at least keep your mind occupied," she said almost flippantly. "I can't have you pining away for lost love because some silly girl doesn't realize what she's missing."

Caught completely by surprise, he laughed sharply and not a little ironically, although he wasn't certain she caught that. "But you won't miss out on it, will you Raven?" he couldn't help but ask.

Raven stood away from him and busied herself with smoothing her skirt, frowning first at the reminded inability of lowering the hem line any just by tugging, then at him. "Of course not," she answered haughtily. "I miss nothing."

"Oh no," he said wryly. "Not you." _(/a)_

She narrowed her eyes at him and just when he thought she would take up the bait and tease him back, the challenge melted off her features and she sighed again, as if for good measure. "It won't work," she declared suddenly. At Speedy's look of frustration, she shook her head, "I know what I said, Speedy, but listen, it's not just stubbornness on my part, I just realized something."

"What?" he asked carefully.

"It won't work -- "

"You keep saying that."

"It won't work _because_," she levelled a warning glare at him, then continued when he got the picture and didn't interrupt again, "say you're right and Robin does feel for me romantically, and say the jealousy I saw at the table is because he is jealous of you as my lover and not because he thinks I'm being disloyal to the team for choosing to spend time with you over them --"

"--is that what you've convinced yourself is the reason behind his hissy fits?" Speedy interrupted incredulously.

Raven glared at him and continued as if he hadn't spoken, "Just say it's because of what you say," she said pointedly, brining the conversation back to her original point, "Even if he is jealous of you as my lover, he will never make a move so long as he perceives that we're happy together."

Speedy opened his mouth, ready to argue, then stopped and closed it with an audible snap. "Damn," he said, realizing she was right.

Raven sighed and crossed her arms. "So, we should just let this --"

"--no, we shouldn't," he interrupted, not bothering to let her finish saying whatever she had intended to say. "You agreed, the rest of the week, and just here right now you agreed to be more cooperative, Raven, remember?"

She looked at him as if she couldn't understand where she was failing in her explanation of something so seemingly logical. "What's the point? If he won't make a move if he thinks we're together?" she queried.

"I'll take care of it," he assured her.

Raven's expression turned decidedly wary. "Speedy…" she started warningly.

He grinned at her and put an arm around her shoulders, "No worries, Buttercup," he assured her glibly. "I said I'd take care of it."

"How?" she asked suspiciously.

He thought about it, but the smile never left his lips, "I don't know," he admitted happily. "But it'll come to me."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Raven intoned.

The quick rap on the door effectively ended the conversation, reminding them of what was waiting for them outside and Raven sighed, squared her shoulders and started to walk away.

Speedy watched her compose herself and was amazed, once again, by her ability to simply carry on. It was one of the first things he'd noticed about her those years ago, but it still sometimes caught him by surprised and struck him with a deep kind of awe. And as the sleeve of her blouse whispered against his bare arm as she walked passed him, he reacted without thinking, grabbing her shoulder before she was out of touching distance and turning her so that she was pinned between the one-way mirror at her back and him in front of her. He saw the surprise in her eyes shift into question as he looked down at her and when she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, he kissed her.

It was the easiest thing he had ever done in his life, the most natural, like breathing. Or falling. He just had to let go.

He didn't mean to do any of it at all, but even when he pressed his lips to hers, he thought 'only a taste' and would have pulled away if she had pushed him away or resisted, but when all she did was gasp in surprise, her lips parting just enough, he did what any red-blooded guy would: instinctively shifted position, pressing closer against her body even as his tongue dipped inside to taste her, his hands pressing against the glass at either side of her because if he held onto her, he wouldn't be able to stop.

But when her hand touched the bare skin of his shoulder, he broke the kiss with a short gasp and leaned back away from her at the slightest hint of a shove from her hand. As they caught their breath, he kept his hands still on the glass, afraid to move, his eyes cast down and focused on her slightly swollen lips, unable to expose his expression to her, unwilling to see how hard it was for him to keep from closing the distance between them again.

She licked at her lips and swallowed, and he clasped onto the trace of the mischievous thought that entered his head, finally turning his eyes up to meet her slightly startled, obviously confused deep purple irises.

"You taste like peaches," he spoke, glad when his voice came out relatively normal, if a little hoarse. "And vodka."

She frowned, "It's the drink you gave me," she said, then as if realizing that she shouldn't be answering his question but asking one of her own, she shook her head and pushed a little harder against him, until he pulled back, hands coming off the glass so that he could stand straight. His eyes were still on her, and she couldn't seem to stop the strange beat of her heart. She was confused and had been caught by surprise and she hated both. "What do you think you were doing?" she asked, her voice hard.

He shrugged, suddenly all lithe casualness, "It suddenly occurred to me that we hadn't kissed before," he said simply.

She raised her brows, "I still fail to grasp why I shouldn't hurt you."

"Lovers kiss in public, Rae," he said slowly, as if he were explaining something very complicated. "It'll be suspicious if we don't – so, I figured we might as well get the first one over with somewhere private."

She glared at him, and was going to argue, but he stopped her with a hand to her lips.

"Did you hate it?" he asked suddenly, almost serious – almost. Even though her first instinct was to say she did, she thought about it, as he knew she would, and he took the chance to bring his point home. "You didn't, did you?" She narrowed her eyes at him and he chuckled. "Don't look at me that way, babe," he said flippantly, "It's just a kiss, nothing more, like..." he paused to think about it, "like actors in a play," he decided. "It doesn't have to mean anything, but they," and here he motioned with a casual shrug of his shoulders the multitude just outside the window, "don't have to know that." He shrugged. "Still, if you tell me you hated it, like it made you want to puke or you're dying to go for the nearest bottle of mouth wash, then I won't do it again, I promise." He waited a few moments, and when she didn't immediately interject with her adamant assurance that she did hate it and that she would introduce him to a world of pain if he did it again, he raised a brow in teasing challenge, "If you didn't hate it, however, then I say we should consider using this as another weapon in our arsenal," he said logically.

She was quiet for a bit, considering, and shook her head. "This is becoming very complicated."

"Only as much as you make it, sweetheart," he said gently. "But it's working, isn't it?"

She frowned, "Says you," she answered.

"We really will have to talk about your sense of self, you know that?" he said.

She frowned even harder. "You couldn't have warned me?" she asked, effectively changing the subject and clearly annoyed.

He chuckled, "Would you have let me kiss you if I'd warned you?"

She scoffed and walked away from him. "No," she said simply, like it should've been obvious.

"Yeah, see?" he said, following her. "That's what I thought."

"Warn me next time, alright?" she asked, over her shoulder, one hand on the doorknob.

He came up behind her and leaned close to her ear as she opened the door. "No," he answered, the grin evident even in his voice, before pecking her lightly on the cheek and pulling the door open himself, holding it for her to walk through and grinning widely at Steve the Bouncer on the other side.

Steve smiled at Raven and she found herself actually smiling back, even though it was only a little one. Steve winked and closed the door behind them, "Feelin' better, hun?" he asked.

Raven thought about it for a moment, and decided to hedge slightly, "I don't feel like I could happily rip off everyone's heads in the place, anymore," Raven answered, not exactly lying.

"Ai'right, then," Steve enthused, nodding as they walked away.

"Hey!" Beast Boy called as they approached the table where the rest of them were sitting, "Where've you guys been? You missed the Band's arrival! They made such an entrance, there was almost a riot of people trying to get to 'em, if Vic wouldn't have pulled me out of the way, I'd have been trampled!" he reported happily.

"Getting trampled would have been a good thing?" Star tried from her place at the table.

"Hells yeah!" Beast Boy grinned widely. "Not everyone can say they've been trampled in a riot because they were _that_ close to _Razor's Edge_!"

Raven rolled his eyes and Speedy chuckled. "Where are they now?" Speedy asked.

"Heading toward the VIP room, apparently," Beast Boy said, leaning up and looking into the dance room as the door opened and closed.

"And where have _you two_ been?" Cyborg asked as Speedy waited for Raven to scoot into the booth next to Starfire before sliding in next to her.

"Roy got the bouncer to let me into the VIP room for a breather," Raven answered as Speedy settled in next to her.

"You and Roy were in the VIP room?" Cyborg asked.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "You mean you met the band?" he almost squeaked.

"No, we got out before they showed up, we didn't even see them walking toward the room, honestly," Speedy answered.

"How'd you get into the VIP room?" Beast Boy asked. "Can you do it again?" he wondered, then, "Wait – what were _you_ doing in the VIP room, huh?" he waggled his eyebrows, leaning across the table toward them.

"I'm going to get a drink," Robin announced, standing from the table, easy since he was on the end next to Beast Boy and across from Speedy.

"Dude, what's with him?" Beast Boy asked as Robin walked away.

"Another drink, Rae?" Speedy asked.

"Sure," Raven answered.

He smiled and stood from the table. "Anyone else want something?" he asked the table.

"I would love a bottle of mustard," Starfire announced.

Speedy grinned at her. "How about a coke instead?" he asked.

Starfire sighed, "If they have none of my spicy goodness, I suppose an effervescent beverage will do."

"Last call?" Speedy looked around.

"Nah, I'm good," Beast Boy announced, echoed by Cyborg.

"I'll be back then," Speedy said, pausing only to press his lips to Raven's for a chaste moment before heading toward the bar.

"I would've pegged you as the beer type," Speedy told Robin as he stood next to him, having approached in just enough time to hear Robin's order.

Robin looked at him, his face composed in perfectly neutral lines. "Beer tastes like piss," Robin announced stoically.

Speedy laughed, "Seem like we have yet another thing in common."

"What'll it be?" the bartender asked Speedy as he handed Robin the amber liquid in the tumbler.

"One sex on the beach, one whiskey-sour, and a coke," Speedy ordered.

"Ya got it," the bartender answered, beginning his work.

"Sex on the beach?" Robin asked, taking a drink from his own glass.

"Rachel loves the peach in it, I think --" he laughed, "Anyway, I know I do," he added.

Robin opened his mouth to retort when he was bumped from behind. He turned around, holding his drink from spilling onto his front and a beautiful blond turned to him apologetically.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" she said hurriedly. "Did I get any on you?" she made to look at him, then smiled brightly.

"Jessica, I can't believe you --" her friend, a brunette started to chastise, but stopped at finding both Robin and Speedy's eyes on her. "--are such a lucky klutz," she finished, smiling at the boys. "I'm Sasha," she introduced.

"Roy," Speedy offered. "This is Dick," he said, motioning Robin.

"He is, is he?" Jessica asked, smiling at him.

"Hi, Roy," Sasha said. "So, feel like asking a girl to dance?" she flirted.

"Yeah, boys, feel like showing us a good time?" Jessica added.

Speedy laughed, "As tempting as that might be," he said smoothly, "I'm afraid I can't," he told them apologetically. At their wide open looks of confusion, he shrugged and smiled, "I'm taken." The bartender showed up with his drink order and he took them in his hands. "My girl's the one with the frilly drink," he motioned. "But Dick here's not taken, isn't that right?" he asked Robin. "Guess we'll talk later, huh, Dick?" he asked, then smiled at the girls, "Nice to meet you girls," he said, going back toward the table.

By the time Speedy got back to the table, the seating arrangements had apparently changed. Cyborg was now sitting on the edge of one booth, next to Starfire and Raven was closest to the wall while Beast Boy sat all alone on the other end of the booth. Speedy figured why the seats had changed, since Cyborg wasn't particularly subtle. But there was still room in the rounded out booth on Raven's side of the table, right next to the wall. Speedy handed Starfire and Raven their drinks, put his on the table in front of Beast Boy and climbed onto the empty booth behind theirs, stepped gingerly over jackets discarded by the occupiers of said booth who must be on the dancefloor, and easily slid over the top of the booth and down into the seat between Raven and the wall. Pulling his drink back in front of him, his back against the wall, and one arm on the backrest of the booth behind Raven, he offered them all a smile.

"So, how's everyone's drinks?" he asked casually.

Frowning, Cyborg got up and moved to the seat across, shooing Beast Boy into scooting over to make room for him.

Everyone adjusted to the newly acquired space, but when Raven made to shift so that her thigh was no longer touching the rough material of his jeans, he looked at her challengingly and she stopped, pointedly taking a sip of her drink and leaning back against the seat, tensing only minimally when Speedy's bare arm grazed the bits of exposed skin around her shoulders and back.

"So, where's Dick?" Beast Boy asked, looking around for him.

"I think he made some friends at the bar," Speedy answered.

"Dick's always making friends, ain't he?" Beast Boy asked laughingly. "Lucky bastard."

"There were two of them, Gar," Speedy said off-handedly. "If you hurry, he might be willing to share."

"Dude!" Beast Boy perked up. "What part of the bar, exactly?"

"The right, closest to the bathrooms," Robin answered, coming up to the table. "Although I doubt they stuck around there," he finished, sliding into the booth next to Cyborg.

"Aw, man," Beast Boy slumped.

Speedy laughed, "Hey, don't despair, G-man," he said enthusiastically. "Why don't you go try to find them, anyway? You never know, right? Tell them that Dick sent you to show them a good time."

"Are you their pimp or something, Roy?" Robin asked, "You keep trying to find them someone to play with."

"Me?" Speedy asked, leaning back into the seat, "Nah, I just like everyone to have a good time."

"You're a real pal," Beast Boy enthused. "So, you think I should go talk to them?" he asked.

"I think you should," Speedy assured.

"What do you think, Dick?" Beast Boy asked, turning to Robin next to him.

Robin shrugged, then seemingly making a visible effort, looked at him and smiled. "I think you could definitely show them some fun."

Beast Boy brightened. "Yeah! I could, couldn't I?"

Raven looked from Beast Boy to Robin and she felt something shift inside her, the same way it usually did whenever she was reminded of the kind of guy Robin was deep inside. Everyone knew Beast Boy looked up to Robin, had since the first moment they met. She knew some of that blind idolizing had waned as the younger boy grew up and got to establish his own identity, but there was obviously some of that still present. It was like a younger brother trying to impress his big brother while trying to make certain everyone knew he didn't think he had to impress anyone.

"I bet they'd love my new jokes," Beast Boy enthused.

"That would all depend on the level of alcohol they've imbibed," Raven answered stoically.

Beast Boy turned to glare at her, but it was Beast Boy, so it wasn't much of a glare. "Hey!" he called, clearly offended. "I resemble that remark!"

"I think you mean you _resent _that remark," Speedy offered.

Raven smirked, "I don't know about that, I certainly think he _resembles_ that remark."

"No, the first one – I mean, the second one," Beast Boy tried, then, frowning, "Wait --What was the question?"

Cyborg laughed and shaking his head, patted his friend's head, "Let it go, man, just let it go."

Beast Boy frowned and turned to Cyborg, "She got me again, didn't she?" he asked.

Cyborg nodded. "You should learn to just sort of accept it and move on...really."

Speedy, meanwhile, was oblivious to the banter around him, his hooded gaze fixed on where Robin was watching Raven intensely. Some part of him took stock of the fact that no one, including the object of his attention, seemed to take notice of this intense interest on the Boy Wonder's part. Were they all really so used to this kind of interaction that none of it was strange? 'Well, that just won't do, will it?' he asked himself.

Raven for her part, missed Beast Boy's answer entirely since Speedy's hand (the one that wasn't running along the back of the booth just barely grazing the skin of her back) slowly rose to cup her right cheek and turn her face toward him a little. She allowed him to do so and met his eyes, resisting the urge to pull back from the nearness of him as he leaned in close to her, tucking his right cheek against her left, bringing their faces close enough that his lips could easily graze her left ear, the thumb of his left hand drawing lazy circles on her right cheek.

"Now, I'll show you how to make someone jealous..." he whispered into her ear, his breath raising involuntary goosebumps down the side of her neck.

"Now, now," Cyborg said from across the table, "Telling secrets when in a group is rude!"

Raven started a bit as if caught with her hand in the cookie jar and might have pulled away if Speedy's hand at her cheek hadn't kept her close. "Relax, Rae-Rae," he whispered before turning his head slowly, every bit of their skin touching so that she could just feel what would be the beginning growth of stubble along his chin in the morning until he was pressed cheek to cheek with her, his eyes focused on Cyborg.

She might have been worried by the grin that spread across his features, if she could have seen it. As it was, all she felt was a growing sort of trepidation and a sudden surprise at the spike of emotion coming from Robin across the table from them. "Who said I'm speaking?" Speedy asked, his tone somewhat akin to a contented cat with a bowl full of cream.

Cyborg frowned and might have answered something if not for the raucous applause that preceded the appearance of the band on the stage in the main room right in front of the dancefloor.

"Oooh! The band's on!" Beast Boy said, bounding out of the booth and standing up alongside the table, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Come on, or we'll miss the show!"

Starfire slid out of the booth and onto her feet, and Speedy poked at Raven's arm. "Come on, honey-lamb, or we'll miss the show!" Speedy prodded.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxx_

In the crowd, Speedy held Raven in front of him, arms around her waist, her arms resting on his, her back pressed against his front and their hands clasped in front of her. She had looked a little uncomfortable when Speedy had first slipped his arms around her waist from behind, but her attention on the band had distracted her until she appeared as comfortable in the circle of his arms as she had ever looked anywhere else. They swayed a little with the music and although Speedy's head turned to talk to Cyborg next to him or he leaned down next to her ear to speak or to listen, she seemed to be quite comfortable.

Even when, both of their attention being on the band, Speedy rested his chin on the top of her head.

Robin watched them from the bar and wondered why the world had not yet ended. Why hadn't something _blown up_? Why hadn't she told him that she couldn't be close to anyone? Wasn't their relationship supposed to end their friendship? Why did they look more friendly than ever?

She kept insisting that there wasn't a relationship – there was just the physical, spending time together...she hadn't said anything about love or relationship. Hell, she had corrected him when he'd called Speedy her boyfriend. Still, just because Raven believed they were keeping it just physical, didn't mean Speedy did. Robin didn't need to be Batman's apprentice to figure that out. Hell, Beast Boy had seen it. The way Roy looked at Raven was not _just_ with lust.

He could lie to someone as emotionally inexperienced as Raven as to the depth of his feelings, but he couldn't lie to Robin.

Keeping it non-emotional was probably why Raven was allowing it, and Speedy was telling her that's all it was because something was better than nothing.

Hell, he should know.

He _had_ nothing.

No. He had friendship.

_Had_.

Was it gone? If he was her friend, he'd be happy for her, even if she was just enjoying herself, even if Speedy was lying to her as to the depth of his own feelings, so long as she didn't get hurt, so long as she was happy, he should be happy for her.

But...was she? Was she happy?

Everyone seemed to think so. Hell, they appeared to be. But something didn't sit right with him. Something seemed _off_. He thought he knew what Raven looked like happy – as rare as it was to see, he knew he could spot it a mile away – or, he thought he could. He couldn't put his finger on why he doubted that she was happy with Speedy and with things the way they were and normally that would mean something. His instinct.

But, as he watched her lean back a little into Speedy as the band played a song he knew she liked, he couldn't lie to himself any longer. He wanted to be something more – had wanted that for some time.

So, could he trust his instinct? Was she really happy and he just refused to see it? Did he just want a reason _not_ to be happy for her? He was her friend and he would be happy for her if she was happy, so was the fact that he didn't think she was an unconscious choice to allow him continued skepticism? Distrust? Dislike.

He inhaled and exhaled carefully, and came to the conclusion that his doubt in his own instinct was the exact reason he had always pushed away his feelings for Raven – why he had told himself he couldn't even hope for something more – hell, why he couldn't even acknowledge that he wanted anything more than friendship. He was the leader and he couldn't have anything more. Not with one of his teammates, not with one of the people that depended on him. So he had done with that desire the same thing he did with so many others – he'd pushed it aside. So far aside that he had almost convinced himself he had forgotten it.

And so long as things stayed the same between them, he was okay with that. So long as he had their quiet mornings before everyone else woke up, their weekly chess game, or a shared look of understanding when the others rose a riot, he was content. Not happy, he couldn't be, but he was content. So long as he knew that if he went onto the roof at a certain time of day, he would likely find her there, he didn't need anything more.

But he hadn't forgotten about anything, and deep down, he did want something more.

Then Speedy had shown up and everything changed. He had told himself that he could never show his attraction to her, could never chance her even suspecting because he wasn't just some guy off the street: he was Robin and he was the leader. What if she didn't feel the same for him? What then? If she was even just a little awkward with him or wary or different, then what would that do to the team? How would that strain things? Change things? Their team dynamic would change and he couldn't allow that for a slim chance at happiness. There were other things that had to take priority.

At least, that's what he told himself, but watching Speedy hug her close, he had to wonder how truthful even that really was. Yes, he did have a responsibility as the leader, he lived with that burden every day, but how much influence had his decision to remain silent about his true feelings for Raven had to do with his role as her leader and teammate and how much had to do with his fear that she might reject him and then he'd lose even the small bit of companionship he had with her already? If she suspected, if she was awkward with him, yes, it would be bad for the team dynamic, but it would be disastrous for him, too.

But he'd lost her anyway, hadn't he?

Those little moments he cherished enough to avoid risking were gone, just the same, weren't they?

Robin knew Speedy's game. Maybe he couldn't know the details, but he could pick up the gist of it. Raven had said she didn't love Speedy from the get go, but that hadn't stopped the archer. Presented with the chance, Speedy had grasped it. So he allowed her to think he didn't care more for her than a friend, so he let her think it was just sex between them.

If things didn't pan out Speedy's way, the only one hurt would be him. It was risky, sure, but if things worked out for him...

Robin clenched the glass in his hand as he watched Raven offer a small smile at Speedy at something he said before turning back to watch the band and resisted the violent impulse to physically pull them apart.

Speedy had taken the risk, played the dice and if it worked out for him, Robin could do nothing.

Nothing except wish he had thought of it first.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Despite what everyone thought, Speedy was not used to sleeping with anyone in his bed. Usually, (in the rarer than what anyone would guess instances) whenever he'd had a girl in bed with him, the last thing they'd done was actually sleep.

So, when he had trouble sleeping the first night he slept in Raven's bed, he had told himself it was the unaccustomed weight next to him (even though Raven weighed next to nothing) and the fear of hurting her in his sleep (even though he never really moved around) or even that he was uncomfortable without having the whole bed to hog, but Raven's bed was large and she took up such a small corner of it. The truth, of course, was that, even that first night, he had trouble sleeping because he had trouble keeping down the urge to pull her into his arms and tuck her against him the way a child would a Teddy Bear.

But, he had gotten over that.

In the nights that followed, Raven had gotten more used to his presence in her bed as well, and she no longer curled up into a small little ball on her side, but occasionally actually fell asleep a bit more open and on her back, which Speedy was guessing was her favorite position to sleep.

And he had gotten used to sleeping with her weight on the other side of the bed, the smell of her on the sheets and the soft sounds of her breathing in the still night.

It had been nearly 4 am when they'd gotten back from the club, nearly 5 by the time they'd changed, bathed, and actually fallen into bed, so they hadn't actually been sleeping for more than an hour when he woke up and knew, almost instantly, that something was wrong. It took him a moment of staring up at the ceiling and being utterly still and completely awake to figure out what, however.

Less than five minutes later, he was stepping out of the elevator and padding down to the common room in his bare feet, hair mussed and sticking up in odd directions. He had a moment to think that he should have grabbed a shirt before walking out of Raven's room, but then he saw the object of his search – or, actually, he saw the back of her head over the top of the sofa, the television before which she was sitting as dark as the lights of the room. Only the small lamp over the stove was turned on, which really only just created more shadows than light.

He stepped up to the couch and realized it in the slight lift of her chin when she noticed his presence. "If you tell me you're actually seeing something on that television, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in for alcohol poisoning," he said, his voice gruff from disuse and his tone low in the silence.

"I couldn't sleep," she answered, her tone even and quiet.

"Obviously," he groused. "The question is, why?"

She raised a mug to her lips and sipped, speaking only after she had lowered it back to her lap. "Actually, the question is, why are you up?"

"Your room is creepy without you in it, you know that?" he asked.

She glanced at him and he walked around the couch so she wouldn't have to crick her neck to do so. "So, you're saying the creepiness of my room woke you up?" she asked.

He had the grace to look wry, "Actually, I think I've gotten used to having you in the bed."

She hmphed in disbelief and went back to staring at the inactive television, taking another measured sip of her steaming mug of tea.

"So, why are you up?" he asked.

She shrugged. "No reason."

"No reason?" he raised a brow at that. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She shook her head. "Sometimes, I just wake up, can't go back to sleep for a few hours, so I sit and drink tea and mediate."

"And stare at a turned off television, you mean," he corrected.

She turned a glare at him. "I was meditating."

"With your eyes open?"

"Yes."

"Okay..." Speedy said, plopping down onto the couch next to her and taking up the remote control. "I hope you don't mind if I turn on the television? I can't do that open eyed blank stare meditation thing like you can." And before she could answer, he turned on the television to the Cartoon channel, but muted the volume. "Oooh, Tom & Jerry, I love these."

Raven stared at him for moment, but he seemed entirely preoccupied with the doings of a cartoon cat and mouse. "You don't have to stay up," she told him. "You can go back to bed."

He looked at her. "What part of I can't sleep in your bed without you there did you not understand?" he asked, smiling at her.

She started to answer but she stopped at the prickling feeling of an approaching aura. Her expression changed, grew wary for all of two seconds, before, at his inquiring look, she sighed and looked back at the television. "Robin is coming."

Speedy thought of asking her how she knew that, but he didn't have time. He had been thinking about how to approach the situation with Robin since she had mentioned it in the VIP room that night. This seemed to be the perfect opportunity. He took the mug from her hands and put it on the table before them.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Follow my lead," he told her, sitting upright on the sofa. He patted his lap. "Come on, lay it right there."

She raised a brow at him.

"Pretend to be asleep," he explained.

She sighed. "Why?" she asked.

"I'm going to do what I promised."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you promise?"

"I'm going to make sure Robin knows he has a chance with you if he just tries to take it," he told her, reaching over and taking her arms and leading her to lie down onto the couch. She allowed him to place her head on his lap and even accommodated him as he pulled her hair out from under her and spread it out gently over his lap and to the other side of his legs.

"No matter what you hear, pretend to be asleep," he whispered, as his fingers started to run through her hair. Her eyelids fluttered closed and the frown gradually left her features, leaving it soft and relaxed. Her breathing regulated and by the time Robin walked into the common room and paused at seeing Speedy on the couch, she looked for all intents and purposes as if she were really asleep.

Speedy turned his head to look at Robin, bringing one hand to his lips. "She's finally asleep," he whispered.

Robin paused for a moment and seemed about ready to turn around, but then slowly, as if by sheer force of will, he walked far enough into the room to see Raven laid out on the couch with her head on Speedy's lap and Speedy's fingers combing through her hair. When he continued on toward the kitchen without saying a word, Speedy smiled down at Raven, even though she still looked asleep. Speedy remained where he was, and continued to run his fingers through Raven's hair rhythmically, half his attention on how soft it actually was, the other half peripherally on Robin as he puttered around in the kitchen. Eventually, he felt Robin's eyes in their direction, so he figured he'd given Robin enough time to notice how comfortable Raven was on his lap. Carefully, so as not to 'wake' her, Speedy lifted Raven's head, shifting out from under it and standing when he placed it back on the couch. Raven's breathing didn't so much as hitch and her expression remained as calm and relaxed as if she really were asleep throughout the whole thing. She was a pretty good little actress, his Raven.

He smiled at her and grabbed the mug he had taken from her, walking it to the kitchen and putting it in the sink.

"Still wired?" Speedy asked as he watched Robin go through the motions of spooning sugar into a mug.

"No," Robin clipped.

"You were working out at this hour?" Speedy asked.

Robin put down the lid of the sugar bowl with a bit more force he otherwise might have and when he turned to Speedy, his expression was carefully restrained. "Let's stop pretending, Speedy," Robin said seriously, his tone low. "I don't want to _chat_ with you."

Speedy grinned, "So does that mean you're ready to re-evaluate the answer you gave me my first morning here?"

Robin grit his teeth and shook his head and turned back to his preparation of instant tea, deciding not to answer.

"Hmmm..." Speedy said, leaning back. "You say let's stop pretending, but you don't seem ready to stop pretending yet."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Robin decided.

Speedy sighed. "I see..." he said dejectedly. He seemed to consider for a few moments, watching Robin go about preparing his drink while rubbing absently at his chin. "Maybe it would help if I told you she doesn't love me?"

Robin's head whirled to face Speedy, surprised, not that Raven didn't love him, he had been almost positive of that before, but surprised that Speedy would admit to it.

"...not yet, anyway," Speedy added casually.

"Why are you doing this?" Robin asked.

"The other day, we stood in this same kitchen and you asked me if I loved her."

"You said you didn't," Robin reminded him.

Speedy looked up and met Robin's eyes unfailingly. "Things change," he answered.

Robin clenched his jaw and forcefully unclenched it before speaking, "In two days?"

Speedy shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I just didn't realize it then?" he exhaled. "The point is, I love her." He paused, as if waiting for something to happen as a consequence of his declaration, and when nothing did, he continued. "And I think she can love me."

Robin scoffed.

"Scoff if you want," Speedy waved his hand dismissively, "I think your problem, the problem with all of you, is that you don't give her enough credit."

"How dare you presume to tell us what our _problem_ is as far as Raven is concerned?" Robin snapped in a hushed tone. "We know her better without even trying than you could ever hope to just by being in her bed," he bit out. "I don't take _anything_ about her for granted," he continued, fighting for control of his temper. "I'm only mocking your presumption of thinking she can love _you_."

Speedy didn't have any doubts whatsoever about Robin's feelings for the empath. He hadn't had them at the start of this whole ordeal. He wondered at how in some ways he and Robin were so alike and how in some ways so incredibly different. Speedy would never be stupid enough to be in such denial about his feelings. Hell, he wasn't. Robin, however, was so close, but he not there yet. He tried to keep his tone neutral, unconcerned as he decided what to say to best get under his skin. "So, I guess she should love _you_, is that it?" Speedy challenged.

Robin remained quiet for a split second too long, and Speedy didn't give him a chance to come up with excuses.

"I think you feel more for her than you're letting on," Speedy said bluntly. "I think you want her – have probably wanted her for a helluva long time only you didn't do anything for god knows what boyscout reason, but here's the thing..." Speedy leaned forward toward Robin and his expression turned cold, the way it did when he faced down a real threat. "I'm no boyscout." He said it like a warning, or a threat and then he leaned back "And if I'm telling you she doesn't love me, it's not out of any sense of fairness, oh no, I'm not that noble." He shook his head and smiled, but it was not pleasant. "I'm telling you so that you can decide to do whatever you plan on doing with respect to Raven _now_. I'm telling you so that you have a chance to try and make her love _you_ if that's what you want _now_, because if she picks me in the end, if she decides to love me or try to love me, or even just to see how far we can take this thing between us, then I don't want to have to wonder what her feelings might be for you ever again." His voice started to lower, the way it did when he was in battle, losing all sense of playfulness or teasing his voice usually had. "If she chooses me, I don't want to have to wonder what she's thinking every time you walk into the room." He shook his head. "If she picks me, Robin, I want it to be after she knows she _could_ have had you instead..._if_ she wanted to."

"Are you through?" Robin asked coldly.

Speedy laughed. "Not by a long shot, Boy Wonder, not at all."

Robin took his mug and started to walk out of the kitchen, when Speedy's words made him pause.

"I guess you're more of a coward than I thought," Speedy said, his voice back to casual flippancy.

Robin's grip on the mug tightened and he thought he might break it if he didn't ease up. He fantasized briefly on turning around and throwing it right in Speedy's smug face. It was a testament to his control when he walked away instead.

Speedy watched him go and sighed. 'Damn, hardheaded boyscouts,' he thought irritably. 'Well, nothing to it, then,' he thought, determined. 'I'll just have to push him a little further.'

He looked at the couch where Raven had been and wondered how much she had been able to hear. He had kept his voice low, even though he hadn't whispered and Robin's words (what few of them there had been) hadn't been on a whisper either. He had a feeling her hearing was a lot better than most people's, but he couldn't be sure. Shrugging, he figured the only way to find out was to ask her, so he walked back to the couch and touched Raven's shoulder. "You can open your eyes now, he's gone," he whispered.

But Raven didn't open her eyes.

Speedy crouched down next to the couch and shook her just a little. "Raven?" he called. She mumbled something and frowned, shifting a little and lowering her arm onto her side, but didn't wake up. "I can't believe you actually fell asleep," he said quietly, shaking his head. He pushed back a strand of hair out of her eyes and watched as her face relaxed again with a sigh.

He thought about waking her up, but then remembered what she had told him about her own version of insomnia. If he woke her up, would she be able to go back to sleep? Sleep was apparently occasionally elusive to her and he couldn't bring himself to drag her out of it when she'd finally found it that night. He thought about leaving her to sleep there and bringing her a pillow and a blanket, but then he wouldn't be able to sleep that night at all. (He hadn't been joking when he said he couldn't sleep on her bed without her.) Which left only one option. "Oh, Rae, what am I going to do with you?" he wondered before gently working his right arm under her legs and his left arm under her back.

To his utter surprise, she didn't so much as stir as he lifted her out of the couch and carried her back to her room, and only shifted and mumbled a little when he placed her back on her bed, tucking the covers around her before slipping under them next to her.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

**POLL:** Remember the poll I set up on my 'emsscraps' journal? Yeah, it's still up there. Oh, you know what? I'll submit a new poll so you guys can vote again, now after the revelations in this chapter. So, even if you voted in the last poll (which will be identical to this new one), please vote again. And feel free to comment in the lj about why you voted the way you did, k?

**A/N**: Told ya there'd be some doozies, didn't I? Things, my ducks (as Abbie would say), are JUST getting interesting.


	10. Chapter 9: Friendships

**A/N:** I'm getting to the point where I'm afraid I'm going to have to outline the rest of the story. I've got a few scenes I want to add to the story, but since I never outline, I'm not sure where exactly they're going to go...but things are a lot less fast and loose right now where this story's concerned, and I need to get my sh-t together, ya know? Anyway, that's the next step as far as this story's concerned – OUTLINE. ::shivers::

**Thanks:** As always, to _**Kysra**_ and _**Absentia**_ for being great sounding boards and plot betas as far as this story's concerned (and all my stories really...). _**Absentia**_ actually grammar beta'd the first part of this story as well, though, so she gets double thanks. (Otherwise, the rest of the story remains un-beta'd, k?) And _**Kysra**_ gets double thanks too just for being (mostly) unbiased and putting up with me talking about this story when she would normally be more inclined to beat all parties involved over the head (with a skillet, I believe she mentioned...)

Individual thanks to all my reviewers will be up in 'emsscraps' probably tomorrow.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_**Stupid Cupid  
**__**Chapter 9: Friendships  
**__**by Em**_

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_"Mere friends are we,-well, friends the merest..."  
_- Robert Browning, "The Lost Mistress"

Raven was fairly used to having a strange sleep schedule, so, when she woke up at 10 the next morning to an utterly silent Tower and felt hungry, she wasn't surprised.

What did surprise her, however, was the heavy, warm feel of an arm anchoring her to the bed around her waist. Once she noticed the arm, she couldn't help but notice the soft warm puffs of breath rhythmically assailing the back of her neck or the the press of skin (forehead? Nose?) at the base of her neck, under her hair.

She was also sleeping on her side, which was something she never did.

But the fact that she was sharing her pillow and that there was an arm around her waist, just under her breast clearly took precedence.

_'What have I told Speedy about space?'_ she thought, gritting her teeth. He was obviously asleep and he wasn't copping a feel, just invading her personal space, but she still remembered telling him about this precise kind of situation. If he couldn't keep to his own side of the bed...

She blinked and looked across at the wall and realized that they were on his side of the bed.

_'Well...how the hell did that happen?'_ she wondered.

Her stomach growled and she decided not to wake him. What use would it be? He really had no control over what he did while he was sleeping. That was like telling Starfire not to flail her arms to either side of her or hang her head off the foot of the bed. No matter how much she tried, once she was asleep, she just shifted. She'd learned that the hard way.

So, she decided to just get up, as carefully as possible, out of the bed and go find some food. If she didn't wake him up, there wouldn't be that awkward moment when they realized she was in his arms and he wouldn't say something lecherous and she wouldn't have to glare at him and say something biting and sufficiently threatening back and it was too early for that kind of stuff anyway.

Definitely better for all involved if she just got up without waking him.

She considered grabbing his arm and pulling it off her, but his hand was dug under her body (didn't that hurt in the morning?) and she couldn't reach it without moving. So she did. Very slowly, excruciatingly carefully, shifting a little away from where she could feel his aura at her back.

He moved, and Raven went completely still as he sort of half-stretched in his sleep, making a noise low in his throat like one utterly content as he ran his hand down the length of her abdomen, finally settling comfortably with his hand just under her belly button, pulling her closer against him, not unlike a child might a Teddy Bear.

Now, not only did she have his arm to contend with, but she could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed against her back and his lightly stubbled cheek against her neck.

_'So now what?' _she wondered when his breathing settled back into the calm rhythms of deep sleep. He hadn't woken up, but she was in worse shape than when she started. Maybe she should just go back to sleep. He usually woke up before she did, so let him deal with the fact he was holding onto her. When she woke up, he'd be out of the bed and she'd be free to have some breakfast.

At the thought of food, her stomach growled again and she rolled her eyes. Even if she was sleepy, she had to have something to eat. She had barely eaten all day yesterday.

"His head shifted, making himself more comfortable in the niche between her neck and shoulder, the stubble on his jaw rasping against her skin, an unexpected sensation that broke her out in flocks of goosebumps.

And tea, she decided. Food and tea.

She looked down to see that even though his arm was still around her, his hand was flat against the mattress in front of her body, the strong callused fingers at rest, the crisscrossing marks of her sheets and probably her shirt across the back of it.

She took hold of his hand and his fingers constricted against hers, the way a baby grabs hold of anything it can get it's fingers around. She slowly lifted so that his arm was no longer touching her and quickly and smoothly slid off the side of the bed. She found a pillow near the foot of the bed (how did that get there?) and put it in the place she had just vacated.

She waited with bated breath for a moment, afraid to move, until he grabbed onto the pillow, fitting it against his front and, still asleep, turned onto his other side.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Raven grabbed her robe and walked out of the room.

She knew he was in the room as soon as she was off the elevator. She hadn't expected him (although perhaps she should have) and thought for a moment about turning around and going back.

It was too early for his glares, she hadn't had nearly enough sleep, and she had a headache (which she suspected was from her unaccustomed imbibing of vodka the night before). But she was hungry too, and the thought of running away from Robin made her hesitate. How far had things gone between them in 3 days that she couldn't even face him?

So, she steeled herself and walked the rest of the way into the kitchen.

Robin, she noticed, was sitting at the breakfast nook, a file open in front of him next to a bowl of cereal and a mug of coffee, and although their eyes met across the room, she didn't know what to say, so she said nothing and went to the cupboards housing her tea instead.

She started to grab the bag of English Breakfast tea from it's box but paused, a vague memory of adding 'milk' to the grocery list on their fridge the day before when she'd noticed only a small amount of milk left. Robin liked his cereal with milk, when he had it, and she couldn't have English Breakfast tea without milk. She was considering just going for the Green Tea instead when his voice interrupted her thoughts.

"There's still some milk left in the fridge."

Raven was surprised at hearing his voice at all, but the casual and easy tone to it was certainly unexpected. She swallowed and reached for the English Breakfast tea bag. "Thank you," she spoke into the quiet stillness, her voice a little rough from sleep and slightly hoarse from the near yelling to be heard over the music the night before.

She prepared her tea with only the quiet sounds of Robin flipping pages or spooning cereal and by the time she went to the fridge to get the milk, she had decided not to escape the kitchen when her tea was done. He was obviously trying to act normal with her, they would often share quiet breakfasts together when they both chanced to be the first two awake in the Tower.

He saved milk for her. She knew that as soon as she saw the amount left in the jug in the fridge. It was just enough for her tea, a dollop really, enough to color the tea a light tan color. When she took her tea back to the breakfast nook, he looked up at her, but she was staring at his drier than usual cereal. Robin was one of those that liked to drench his cereal in milk and have enough left over to drink from the bowl when the cereal was gone.

"I haven't picked up the paper yet this morning," he said.

She snapped out of her thoughts and met his eyes. "Alright," she said, sitting across from him. He watched her for a moment, but when she took a careful sip of her tea, he went back to his paperwork. "I didn't know there was any paperwork leftover from the Museum thing last week."

He sighed. "There's always paperwork," he mused.

Raven hmphed and sipped at her tea, reading the papers he was looking at upside down.

"I have to meet with JCPD this afternoon," Robin spoke, looking up from the papers to her. "Turns out the Museum's lawyers want to rehash some of the events that went down."

"Even though they have it in black and white and video?" Raven asked, surprised.

Robin shrugged. "You know how lawyers can be," he answered. "They need to hear it from my lips apparently, or they can't be satisfied."

"So, they take up your Sunday afternoon for that?" Raven asked, but not like she expected him to answer. This was a common gripe they shared.

"I guess they figure if their Sunday is ruined, why not mine?" he wondered.

"You want me to come along?" Raven asked. She remembered their situation at about the same time he did, after the words were out of her mouth. Normally, it wouldn't be strange for her to offer to come with him. Normally, it wouldn't be strange for her to go with him, either. Even if she didn't talk much to the lawyers or the police, they were used to seeing her at his side during these debriefings of sorts. Now? She took a sip of tea to mask her sudden discomfort.

"No," he answered, clipped. "That's alright," he added, his tone less short. He dipped his head back to looking at paperwork, then decided that wasn't enough and stood up, taking his bowl of half-eaten cereal to the sink. "I'm sure you've got other plans today." He ran the bowl under the tap and filed it away with the other dishes in the dishwasher. "No need for everyone's Sunday to be ruined."

Raven stopped herself from assuring him she had no other plans. She didn't, but someone in a relationship would. And then she decided to hell with it. Speedy would understand. This was the point of it all, wasn't it? "Nothing planned," she spoke, looking up just in time to catch his eyes as he turned to look at her. "Plus, this is part of my job, isn't it?"

Robin stared at her for a moment. "No, Raven, it isn't," he said seriously. "It's part of my job, but not yours." He walked to the table, gathering his papers and refusing to look at her. "You've never had to come with me for these things," he added. "I've just always enjoyed having you along." He glanced at her and started for the door of the kitchen. "Enjoy your Sunday."

Raven was left at a loss. She didn't know what to do. Under normal circumstances, she'd tell him she enjoyed his company too, but with her recent realization of how very true that statement was, she couldn't be sure the words would be neutral enough.

_xxxxxxxxxxxx_

"Hey, g'morning," Speedy greeted as she walked into her room.

"Hey," she greeted, averting her eyes casually while Speedy pulled on a t-shirt as she walked to her closet.

"You were up early this morning," he said, grabbing his boots next to the closet and taking them back to the bed.

Raven turned to him and noticed her bed was made and stared, just a little. _'Speedy made the bed?'_ she wondered. Why was that surprising? "I was hungry," she answered, turning back to her closet and deciding she needed to walk inside to find her clothes.

He smiled at her, "Did you eat?"

She nodded, looking at her clothes deciding what to wear. He kept his eyes on her even as he pulled on and laced up his boots automatically.

He raised a brow. "Yeah? What did you eat?"

"Tea and toast," she answered.

He stopped fiddling with his left boot to stare at her. "Toast with what?"

Raven pulled a t-shirt off a hanger and went in search of jeans, answering absently as she did. "Nothing."

Speedy stopped and frowned, "Nothing?"

She found her jeans and came out of the closet with her clothes in her arms. "I didn't trust the butter in the fridge and we're out of jam."

He shook his head and pulled his jeans over the boots, tugging it into place. "You really don't eat enough."

"I disagree."

He shrugged. "I will never understand female eating habits."

Raven frowned. "I will ignore that sexist comment until my headache goes away."

He frowned. "You have a headache?"

She nodded.

"Where?" he asked. "Here?" he pointed to his temple, "or here?" he touched the base of his neck.

She raised a brow, but pointed to her temple.

He grinned and patted the bed next to him. "C'mere, give me your hand," he instructed. Raven looked at him skeptically and he laughed, motioning for her hand again, "Trust me."

Raven approached, putting her clothes on the foot of the bed and sat next to him, her right hand slipping into his. He took her hand in both of his gently and looked down at it, marveling for a moment at the contrasts. His hands looked like rough barks of wood compared to the softness and sheer size of hers. He covered her hand in both of his and grinned at her. "You have such tiny hands," he said.

"My headache is _not_ improving," she informed him monotonously.

He chuckled. "Right, sorry. I'd just never noticed your hands before," he excused. When she merely cocked her head to the side, he forced the smile off his face and got down to business, moving his hands so that each of his thumbs were on the back of her hand while the rest of his fingers were against her palm.

Raven felt a surge of warmth from the contact and she couldn't decide whether it was an emotional warmth or just the concentrated feel of his aura.

"I learned this from a Tibetan Acupuncturist," he said, then met her eyes. "It'll hurt for a moment," he warned and before she could question him, he pressed and there was a sudden, immediately pain as if her bone had broken, but before she could pull her hand away or even think about speaking, it receded, leaving only a vague, not exactly painful, sort of soreness.

"What was that?" she asked, frowning.

He held onto her hand and smiled wryly, "Sorry," he said gently working his fingers at kneading her palm and fingers. "It's the best way, really."

"Says who?"

"You're headache's gone, right?" he asked, smiling.

It took her a moment to realize that it was and when she looked at him in surprise, he merely grinned. "See?" He looked down at her hand which he was still gently massaging. "Hand still ache?" he asked.

"No," she answered.

"I'm sorry to have hurt you," he said. "But you know, it's best to do things like this quickly, like pulling a band aid," he grinned at her and she should've suspected something by the mischievousness in it. "Or like popping your cherry," he added bluntly as an afterthought.

Raven tugged her hand out of his and glared.

He, of course, laughed. "It's true, take my word for it," he insisted.

"I'm sure you'd know," she drawled.

He shrugged, neither confirming nor denying her remark. "I'm off," he announced, standing.

"Where are you going?" she asked before she had thought it through. He turned and grinned at her and she stood and turned away before he could see her sudden blush. "Whatever," she dismissed, walking toward her chest of drawers. "None of my business--"

"Oh no," Speedy said, standing in her way. "You asked, now you can't take it back."

She looked at him. "You _want_ me to be nosy?"

"Of course," he said. "Because it means you care."

She scoffed delicately but he noted, didn't argue the point.

"I'm going to Ojai,(1) about an hour west of town," he answered and waited.

Raven contemplated leaving things be, letting him go and not prodding any further into his business, but he seemed to want her to question him so she gave in. "Why?"

He grinned. "Well, not Ojai, exactly, just outside of it, there's a Navajo reservation there--" his smile faded a little around the edges, "_The_ Navajo reservation actually, where I grew up, after my da died."

"Oh." Again, Raven was on the verge of letting the line of conversation go. After all, this was past family history. As close as they had always been to that 'friend' line, they had never spoken about their families. She only knew his father had died and that from his file. "Is that what you've been doing here these last few days?" she asked anyway, much to her surprise.

He nodded, then shook his head, scratching at the back of his neck. "Sorta." She raised a brow and he shrugged. "Strong Bear, the chief out there now, called me last week. He told me he'd had some information from a not so reliable source that my da's death might not've been an accident, so I came down here to figure it out."

Raven's expression was expectant. "And?" she prodded.

He shrugged again. "Didn't pan out," he answered. "The guy wanted to make Strong Bear think he had information so he could use it as some sort of bargaining chip, but none of what the guy told him was accurate." Speedy smiled the way she had come to recognize meant he was feeling embarrassed—probably because he did believe the man had some new information for him. "In other words, the guy was full of shit."

"So your father's death _was_ an accident," Raven confirmed.

He nodded. "Seems like." He exhaled. "I'm going back there today to tell Strong Bear what I discovered." Raven raised a brow and he chuckled. "I know, I know. I _could_ just call him and save myself the trip, but he doesn't trust phones."

Raven's other eyebrow joined the first arched high on her forehead, "He doesn't _trust_ phones?"

Speedy shook his head. "What can I say?" he asked, shrugging. "In some ways, the Res is as modern as can be, in some..." he trailed off.

"I see." Raven said, walking the rest of the way to her drawers.

"Do you really want to?" Speedy asked.

Raven looked at him. "Want to what?"

"See? The Res?" he asked. His lips quirked into a charming grin, "You could come with."

"Why?" she asked, searching through her drawers, "Do you need a make believe girlfriend along when you talk to Strong Bear?"

"No," Speedy said quietly. "But I could use the company of a friend."

Raven paused in her rummaging for a moment and turned to look at him where he leaned against her bookcase. It was something in his stance, shoulders hunched, arms crossed at his chest or maybe something in his eyes, almost shy and expectant that flipped a switch and Raven was reminded of why she and Speedy had made friends in the first place. And with that reminder, it suddenly made sense why he had been so strange about wanting her to ask about what he was doing rather than him just telling her. He _wanted _someone to come with him while he was doing this very personal thing, he wanted someone to be with him.

"I'll treat you to dinner afterwards," he said when she seemed to be thinking about it for longer than it normally took someone to decide if they wanted to go out or stay in or to remember if they had other plans. "There's this really great Mexican restaurant on the way back along the old state highway, it's really sweet."

Raven sighed. "Do I have time for a shower?" she asked.

He grinned. "Damn, I knew I'd forgotten something..." he snapped his fingers in mock disappointment. "Mind if I join you? Save some time?"

"That depends," Raven answered, walking toward him. "How attached are you to your arms?" she asked, then, without waiting for an answer, walked past him through the door.

Speedy watched her go with a smile.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Cyborg paused in his mechanizations when he heard the elevator ding on the garage floor, but he recognized the cadence of the step as Speedy stepped out without having to look up from the engine.

"Hey, Cy," Speedy greeted as he entered the workshop area of the garage on his way to the parking area beyond it.

"Yo," Cyborg greeted, still under the hood.

"Catch ya later," Speedy said, continuing to walk.

"Hey, Speedy," Cyborg called casually, straightening to fix him with a stare. He automatically wiped down the wrench he had been using as he caught Speedy's half-worried look. "Why don't you chill here for a bit?"

Speedy was not fooled by Cyborg's seeming casualness. Not one bit. He knew of course, that he could tell him he had something else to do, and it wasn't like he didn't have something else he would prefer to be doing, but he figured he couldn't hide from having this conversation so he might as well get it over with. "Yeah," Speedy said carefully, backtracking into the room again. He sat down on one of the stools next to the workbench. "Sure."

Cyborg smiled at him and, grabbing another tool, went back to the car, "I know you came here for a reason, but with everything else that happened when you showed up, I forgot to ask you if you needed any help?"

Speedy shook his head, "Nah," he said, smiling. "It's personal stuff, not Titan stuff."

"Oh?" Cyborg looked at him, raising a concerned brow, "Is everything alright?"

Speedy nodded, still smiling, "Yeah, it's fine," he assured him. "Just some stuff dealing with my da."

Cyborg nodded. "Well, ya know we're here to help you even if it's not Titan business if you need it, right?"

Speedy could feel the sincerity of the offer and nodded, feeling warm inside. "Yeah, I got that."

Cyborg nodded and went back to the car. "We're all family here, you know," he continued conversationally. "And we take care of our own."

Speedy stiffened just a bit and the smile froze in place on his lips. He was sensing where this was going. "Of course."

"Yep," Cyborg continued, pausing to give whatever he was doing a few quick twists, "Robin, Starfire, they're like family and Beast Boy's like annoying family, but you know..." he paused again and pulled a part out of the car. Speedy didn't know what it was, but it looked used. "Raven, we'll she _is_ my sister--" Cyborg came to the work table and put the part aside, picking up a similar, newer looking one. He paused to meet Speedy's eyes. "--my _little_ sister at that." Cyborg shrugged. "I can't tell you why I feel so attached to her, only I've always been very protective of her." He looked truly contemplative. "I think I've always had the idea that she needs to be protected more than the others for some reason." He shrugged again.

Speedy nodded, not certain that Cyborg expected him to say anything, but when Cyborg looked at him expectantly, he said the first thing that occurred to him, "She's just worthy of protection, I think." Cyborg cocked his head to the side as if he were trying to read behind his words. "She seems so tough on the outside, but she's really..." he shrugged. "...not."

Cyborg nodded and went back to the car with the new piece, bending back over it. "I figure she's smart enough to make her own choices about most things and the truth of the matter is that you're bringing her out of herself and for _whatever_ reason, she's letting you."

Speedy raised a brow, "You don't think it could be because she likes me, huh?" he asked with just a hint of depreciating humor.

Cyborg straightened and looked at him consideringly. "I don't pretend to know," he admitted. "Only that she is and that she's aware of what she's doing, so what more can I do?"

Speedy knew better than to answer that one.

"Anyway," he said, returning to ratchet something under the hood, "I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you making her happy."

Speedy was floored. He had expected some threatening and possibly the third degree, but acceptance and thanks? He felt slightly guilty, not because he intended Raven any harm, but because he couldn't help but think that Cyborg was thanking him for something that he hadn't _really_ done. Raven wasn't necessarily any happier because of him. As a matter of fact, she was consistent in saying he drove her crazy and annoyed her and that she didn't know why she had agreed to this crazy plan in the first place, etc, etc.

Consequently, Speedy didn't know how to answer him, so he stood there, gaping not unlike seafood.

Cyborg didn't need Speedy to say anything, however. "I mean, she's a big girl and can make her own decisions," he continued conversationally, each word punctuated by a quick ratchet, "She says she knows that you guys have made no promises to each other and Lord knows even people in love can fall out of love, so who knows what'll happen in the future?" Cyborg stood to switch tools before going back under the hood. "But you know, like I said before, she's not _like_ my sister, she _is_ my sister, so you should know, should you even think about hurting her on purpose--" he paused and stood up, wiping at a small bolt in his hand with serene calm in his mannerisms and laser sharp focus in his eye. His tone never changed from the casual friendly tone he usually used but the hair's on the back of Speedy's neck stood on end, anyway. "-- I can murder you and make it look like an accident."

There was absolutely no sign of joking or mischief, no twinkle of amusement or teasing. There was no outward showing of threat, no anger or emotion.

Simple. Direct. Sincere.

And Speedy did _not_ doubt him for a moment.

Speedy also did not know what to say. He was wracking his brain, trying to figure out a way to assure him of his intentions, when Cyborg broke the silence with a sudden bout of raucous, booming laughter. He approached Speedy who was much too shocked to do much else but stare at him open mouthed.

"Man, look at your face!" Cyborg said between guffaws. He shook his head and slapped his back, nearly sending him careening onto the concrete. "I'm just messing with ya," he helped Speedy to regain his balance and winked at him, returning to the car. Speedy was just starting to think about smiling when Cyborg spoke again. "It wouldn't be murder if they can't find the body," Cyborg said, winking conspiratorially as if it weren't Speedy's murder he were talking about.

"I--" Speedy managed, unsure if he should laugh or hide.

"I thought you were going to pick me up around the front?" Raven interrupted whatever Speedy might have thought to respond.

Cyborg turned to the elevator and grinned brilliantly. "Don't you look pretty!" he told her playfully, taking in her distressed jeans and teal colored blouse.

She blushed a little, the way she always did whenever anyone complimented her, and stepped into the garage, looking at Speedy. "If you wanted to play with Cyborg in the garage, Speedy, you shouldn't have rushed me." At realizing the look of shock on Speedy's face, however, she frowned. Realizing what the look could mean, she glanced a question at Cyborg. "Cy..." she started.

Cyborg raised his hands defensively and shrugged, "Don't look at me like that, Rae," he defended. "I was just messing with carrot-top," he said. "Now g'on, get out of here you two, don't let me keep y'all."

Raven stared at him hard, but all Cyborg did was smile, so by the time Raven walked through the workshop in the direction of the parking area, Speedy was pretty sure Cyborg had been just messing with him.

Of course, then Speedy met Cyborg's eyes and he didn't have any doubts anymore. Cyborg had meant every word.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

**Notes:**

(1) Whether or not Ojai, California actually has a Navajo reservation where I say it does, I don't know. I tried to do some research, but I couldn't find any direct answers that satisfied me, but I did find some insinuations that it might have a reservation either close to or somewhere in its vicinity, so I went with it. I also don't know how far Ojai is from where "Jump City" is supposed to be, so I just went with an hour because I didn't want them to have to travel too long. Finally, I also don't know if the reservation where Roy's father lost his life was in California either. My main source of Roy background knowledge comes from Titans Tower website and it doesn't specify where that reservation is or where Roy Harper's father was a forest ranger or of what forest/park either. So...these are all assumption on my part and could be completely wrong.

**A/N:**

(1) I bet y'all were wondering if Cy was going to get a chance to 'speak' with Speedy, huh? Disappointed?

(2) This chapter was mostly my way of reminding myself, the characters and all y'all that Raven and Speedy _were_ friends before all this happened. Hopefully, next chapter will be even more proof of that.

(3) I tried to get Raven and Robin to have a civilized 'normal' conversation, I _really_ did. And I wanted this conversation to be longer, but Robin walked out on me. I tried to bring him back, but he'd have none of it. He'd said his piece and Raven had stuck her foot far enough into her mouth for his liking, so yeah. Sorry.

(4) I think most of you didn't even remember that Speedy was in Jump City originally for a reason, huh? I know I did. ::sheepish::


	11. Chapter 10: Lies

**A/N:** As an astute observer will note when they see the heading of the fic just a little ways below the A/N and Disclaimer and all this standard stuff, the wonderful _**Absentia**_ has allowed me to give her co-writing credit for this chapter. Mostly because she actually wrote a piece of it (which I've marked by a ($) symbol and you won't be able to miss – it's the writing that actually doesn't suck) but also because she is amazing and has helped me outline out a lot of what's to come in this story. Hell, she's helped me plan out this story practically from it's infancy, so yeah. I'd give her more than just the occasional chapter co-authorship credits, but she won't take 'em.

I am also posting this chapter before it is done with it's full round of beta-ing. I am certain that a mischievous gnome has taken to deleting the corrections I make to this chapter because I've made the same corrections about three times and each time when I open up the document again the next day, they're gone and the same lines and () which are my own signs to myself that I need to do something to the chapter are still in place. I nearly had a _fit_ tonight when I realized it had happened again. As I'm sure all of you can sympathize, I won't go into further detail about how HORRIBLE it was for me to have to try to make all those corrections and changes again. ::bangs head on knee, because she's not at her desk:: Anyway, I just want to get this chapter up and posted before the gnome decides to attack again and take away all my corrections.

**Disclaimer:** Do any of you think if I asked really _really_ nicely, I might get my very own Speedy for Easter? I'd take _real_ good care of him and make sure he got all the exercise he needs…seriously.

**Thanks:** Will be up tomorrow, probably. Generally, though, thanks, as always to _**Absentia**_ and **_GuardianKysra _**without whom this fic probably wouldn't be in the state it's in now. (Abbie for making sure I flesh out enough of Speedy/Rae tension and Kysra for making sure I don't forget how easy it is to consider Speedy an "manipulative asshole" and Raven "stupid" in this fic if I'm not careful.) ::huggles::

**_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_  
_Stupid Cupid  
Chapter 10: Lies  
By Em (& Absentia)  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_**

"_I can forget about the criminal I am / Stealing second after second just 'cause I know I can / but I can't pretend this is the way / It will stay / I'm just trying to bend the truth…"  
_– Lying From You, Linkin Park

She didn't know what she expected, really, but something that looked like any of a dozen urban subdivisions found anywhere across the state was definitely not it. It also did not fit her perception of what a Navajo Reservation might be like to see people walking about in jeans and running shoes or suits and pumps and everything in between. It did not look like an ordinary town only in its lack of a cohesive 'center' and the distinct presence of a large structure off to her left from whence the occasional person came and went. It looked rather like a clubhouse or a community center to her and she wondered if maybe it was their spiritual center.

Raven had always been interested in the many different ways cultures celebrated and held their spirituality. She didn't know much about Native American spirituality other than that it was primarily nature based. She had a feeling it was polytheistic, but couldn't be sure. It did not escape her notice that this would be a perfect opportunity to engage in her hobby of collecting knowledge.

For years now, she had been slowly working her way through an in depth study of each of the world's religions and had started in the East only as a way to keep to some sort of order. She wouldn't be averse, however, to learning a bit about the Navajo, even if she wasn't scheduled to reach the Americas geographically for another few months.

She wondered if it would be considered rude to go to the structure and investigate. She had promised Speedy she would wait where she was for him to return from his meeting with the elder, but although she wasn't particularly uncomfortable leaning against Speedy's motorcycle and the tree above her did shade her from the heat and provide a pleasant breeze, she was very close to a veritable fount of new knowledge and no one could blame her for being curious.

Speedy would certainly understand about her curiosity –

_Speedy_.

He was _from_ here, had grown up here for most of his youth if his file could be believed. And yet, if she were honest with herself (which she always tried to be) she would have to admit to never considering asking him about this culture. Why?

Why hadn't she _ever_ considered asking _him_ about the culture? It hadn't taken much for her to think of asking Aqualad about Atlantis, or Star about Tamaran (even though she had learned about certain aspects of that culture from first hand experience) or even Beast Boy about his time in Africa (however futile that had been).

So, why had she never considered asking Speedy about the Navajo? In the end, the only answer she had was that she hadn't thought of it, but why hadn't she? She was logical. Was it not logical to ask someone who had grown up in a culture about that culture? Why had she never considered Speedy as a possible source of knowledge? Possible options occurred to her: the first and foremost was based on the type of person Speedy was. It was logical of her to think he would not be interested in discussing the people he had grown up in because he was so rarely interested in discussing anything serious—

She stopped the thought before it could complete itself in her consciousness. That wasn't right, was it? She frowned as she realized how unfair that was. He had never been frivolous about any of the other serious conversations they had engaged in. Yes, he _had_ joked and teased, but he had taken her serious and offered sincere comments, views, and perceptions.

It occurred to her that perhaps subconsciously, she had been quite unfair to Speedy all along. She didn't like to think of herself as unfair on principle, and she especially didn't like how that made her feel.

How could someone as generally perceptive as she fail to realize that he had matched her knowledge and interest during discussions on politics, listened carefully and made intelligent, insightful questions when they spoke of history, passionately yet politely disagreed with her about the importance of certain literary works, and quite surpassed her knowledge of nineteenth century warfare and wars?

Logically, it made no sense.

As much as she hated to admit it, the only possible conclusion she could draw was that she had been biased against him, despite having through several times that he was not as shallow as he let others believe, she had treated him no better than any of the people that thought he was a conceited poppycock. How could she consider him a _friend _and still think him unworthy of engaging in meaningful conversation? They had discussed these deeper topics before. They had engaged in philosophical debate before, so why would she not consider him knowledgeable in the culture he had grown up with?

The answer, after some moments of serious thought, came with quite a shock. It was Speedy who always engaged _her_ in conversations of this sort. She had never sought him out for them.

Before she could explore the realization further and consider what she could do about it, the man himself appeared, startling her out of her reverie.

"Did I just scare you?" Speedy asked with a sly grin, catching sight of her expression.

"What?" she asked, frowning. "No."

He raised a brow and smirked. "Yeah, sure," he came closer. "Now, what were you thinking about that you would get that look of surprise on your face as I appeared?" he asked teasingly. He leaned in close enough to have to dip his head to meet her eyes. The sparkle of mirth in them made her want to push him away. "Were you thinking of something wicked, Rae?" he asked, his tone low and so obviously meant to be seductive. He waggled his eyebrows and gently elbowed her shoulder. "Were you, huh? Huh?" he added, the seductiveness evaporating.

"I was _not_," she answered.

"Oh yeah?" he asked, leaning on his bike next to her. "Then what were you thinking of?"

She glared at him. "Not that it's any of your business," she prefaced, "but I was wondering what that building was." She motioned the building that started her whole introspection.

Speedy's easy manner changed as he turned to look at the building. Not much, and certainly not noticeable enough for a normal person to pick up on the change, but Raven wasn't a normal person, and Raven could tell little things like that about people's moods without even trying.

"That's just the Hogan,"(1) Speedy answered.

The ease and certainty of his answer reminded her once again of her failure to consider him as a knowledgeable source.

"Is it a spiritual center of some sort?" she asked.

"Hogan is just the Navajo house," he explained. "In the olden days, all Navajo lived in Hogans. And, in some reservations, people still do, but we here have modernized," he motioned the 'normal' looking houses around them, "as you can see." He leaned back against the bike and looked at her. "Today, that Hogan just serves as reminder of what the Navajo are and where they came from – it's also the house of the current Tribe elder."

"But people have been going in and out of it the whole time I've been here," Raven pointed out.

A muscle in his jaw twitched and she saw him visibly unclench before speaking. "All Navajo are welcomed in the Elder's house," he said, as if it were a mantra that he'd heard many times.

"I see…" Raven allowed, half wondering if she should press about the tension she saw in him and mostly glad she had avoided trying to go into the place by herself.

"You want a tour?"

She glanced at him. "No," she trailed off. Feigning disinterest after her questions was not easy, but she tried. "That's fine."

He smiled at her. "You want a tour," he stated, taking her hand and tugging her away from the bike. "Come on, there's not much to see, but I'll show you what there is of it," he promised. "And answer any questions you might have."

She looked at him, and if he had been looking at her, he might have noted the deeper understanding in her eyes. "You don't have to."

Speedy stopped and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Are you kidding? And miss out on the chance to revel in the fact that I know something you don't?"

She frowned, but not like she meant it. "There are plenty of things I don't know."

Speedy scoffed and continued walking, "You don't know the half of it."

She stopped walking and forced him to look at her. "Should I be insulted?" she asked.

He laughed. "Nah," he placed a hand at her back and led her forward. "It's not your fault you're oblivious."

Raven allowed herself to be led, but if Raven were the kind of person who dragged her feet, she would have been doing so at that moment. "I think I am insulted."

He stopped and laughed. "See? Further proof of your obliviousness."

Raven rolled her eyes, but he didn't see. "How so?" she asked, obviously humoring him by the tone of her voice.

"I wasn't insulting you," he explained. "I was trying to insinuate that you are oblivious to several things –"

"—such as?" she interrupted.

"Such as the effect you have on people," he answered. She opened her mouth to retort but he tapped her nose, stopping her. "And such as the fact that we're here."

She closed her mouth and looked around herself. "Where?"

"The first stop on the tour," he said, extending his arms to his side with a flourish worthy of Vanna White.

_xxxxxxxxxxxxx_

"You are just full of knowledgeable tidbits today."

Speedy laughed as he heaped chunky chorizo and bean dip on his tortilla chip. "I think I'll choose to take that as a compliment."

Raven scooped up some dip onto her own tortilla chip and bit into it, nodding. "You may," she answered after she'd swallowed.

Speedy shook his head. "Well, I can't take all the credit for finding this place," Speedy admitted. "One of the guys on the Res told me about it a few years ago when I came to visit and now I make a habit of stopping in whenever I can."

Raven put down her chip and stared at him in utter and complete seriousness. Growing worried, Speedy lowered his chip to meet her eyes. "What?"

"You're _using_ me as an excuse to come here and eat chimichangas?" Raven asked, her tone never losing its serious near incredulity.

It took him a moment to realize that Raven was joking, but when he did he smirked and picked up his chip nonchalantly again. "I think I'll have the chicken chilaquiles today, but yeah, essentially," he took the chip into his mouth whole and chewed, shrugging. "Sorry."

"No you're not," Raven countered, biting into a chip.

"Okay, maybe not," Speedy admitted with a laugh. "But you really can't blame me…at least you won't once you taste the food here."

"That is still to be seen," Raven answered.

"Your lack of faith is very disturbing." He raised a chip in her direction to make a point. "And after everything I've done for you the last few days."

"Yes, everything you've done," she nodded but the sarcasm was practically dripping onto her chips. "Which reminds me," she added before he could interject. "I've been thinking about you and this girl you love—"

Speedy felt the blood drain out of his face and he coughed to avoid choking on the slivers of chip that went down the wrong way. "I never said – " he stopped to clear his throat. "—that I loved her."

Raven looked at him in disbelief. She raised a brow meaningfully, "Empath?"

Speedy chuckled. "Yeah…" he trailed off. "Forgot."

"So, as I was saying," Raven began, pausing only to allow the waitress set their plates down in front of them.

"You do _not_ want to miss trying this, Rae…" Speedy said, dipping his fork into his food and extending it in what he thought was a tempting manner.

"No thank you," Raven answered, starting to eat her own food. "You said she has someone already, right?"

"Who?" Speedy asked, making a show of enjoying his food. "This is _soo_ good!"

Raven narrowed her eyes and put down her fork, staring at him until he stopped and looked up at her through his lashes.

"You said you wanted me to ask about personal matters," she told him. "If you don't mean that, I can allow you to change the subject."

Speedy sighed and straightened. "You're right." He admitted, looking her dead-on. "Yes, she has someone," he answered. "They're not officially together, but I think that's only because he's too stupid to make a move."

"Well, then," Raven said with the air of one who had thought things through considerably. "Why don't we go to where you know this girl is, and do our whole _couple_ thing in front of her?" she asked seriously.

Speedy smiled at her, but shook his head. "It won't work."

Raven frowned. "How could you be so sure that it will work with Robin and I and so certain that it will _not_ work with this girl and you?"

"It will work with Robin and you because you both love each other," he stopped her from arguing with an upraised palm. "This girl may _like_ me as a friend, but she doesn't love me – she loves the stupid ass who hasn't told her how he feels yet."

Raven's expression turned decidedly pensive. Speedy watched her turn back to her food and begin to eat silently, still pensively, for a few moments, before continuing his own dinner.

"Did you ever think," Raven started in the silence, "that even if she doesn't _love_ you, she might like you enough to want to be with you anyway?"

"Play second best, you mean?" Speedy asked, trying to stamp down his sudden burst of anger at her insinuation. "Just pretend I don't know she doesn't really love me until he wises up and asks her out, after which, I might add, she'll drop kick me to the curb faster than you can say, 'thanks for the fun times, Roy?'"

"What if he doesn't?" she asked, her voice still quiet and pensive.

It was the tone of her voice that got to him and chased away the anger, leaving behind only a niggling feeling of desperation. He stopped eating, but didn't look up at her. He wondered if she was still talking about 'hisgirl'.

"What if it isn't meant to be between them for one reason or another?" Raven questioned. "What if she's happier with you, even if she isn't in love with you, than she is pining for the boy she supposedly loves?" Raven seemed about to raise a forkful of food to her mouth, but stopped. "Is it wrong for her to _try_ to be happy?"

Speedy was floored – not just by her words, but at the sheer volume of them: Raven had never before voluntarily offered so many words put together at the same time to him.

"No," Speedy answered carefully, after a moment, his own food forgotten except as a vague mass of something to focus on. He hated himself for what he was about to say, but knew he had to say it anyway. "But can she truly be happy without the one she loves?"

Raven inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Love?" Raven asked. "What is it but a sexual attraction coupled with a deep liking?" she mused. "It's just a chemical reaction in the body." She decided. "Should she wait, then? Pining away like a fool for the mere possibility that someday they might somehow get over their respective issues and come together?" Raven put down her fork, he heard it clang against the side of her plate. She looked up sharply and met his eyes. "Would _you_ not cherish her? Make her laugh? Talk to her? Share things with her?"

Speedy swallowed, unable to break her gaze. "Absolutely," he answered. "With everything I have."

"Then would it not be smarter, more logical for her to accept you as a lover, as a potential life mate, if she enjoyed spending time with you? Would it not be stupid of her to reject you just because her chest didn't tighten when you looked at her?"

Speedy sighed. "Shouldn't she…shouldn't we all go after our true happiness?" he asked in return. "Shouldn't none of us settle?" He shook his head, relinquishing his hold on his own fork to rest both hands on either side of his plate on the table. He looked down and wondered, vaguely, how they had gotten onto this sort of topic anyway. "I would be deliriously happy if she chose to be with me, but I want her to be happy – crazy happy, the kind of happy you only feel when everything is perfect, and she wouldn't feel that with me. If I let her settle for me…" he trailed off and shrugged, meeting her eyes. "How could I say that I wanted her happiness? I could never give her true, devastating happiness."

"And we're back to that," Raven said. "Not everyone can have that kind of happiness, Roy," she looked at him meaningfully. "You and I _both_ know that kind of happiness only exists in the storybooks and even if she did somehow miraculously end up with the one she loves, what does that mean? Will their love make all their problems disappear? Will that rush of lust and emotion make him always be there for her? Will it make her be understanding of him?" She shook her head. "I don't think love is all the bards make it out to be," she said to her plate. "I think there's something more important than feeling that attraction for someone else and I think it's knowing someone and enjoying spending time with them, and looking up to them, and if they can make you laugh and if you can be with them when you cry."

"And that's what you have with Robin, isn't it?" Speedy asked quietly. "Everything you've just described? You feel more than just that rush of attraction and lust when you're near him, don't you? You can cry to him and you can depend on him…"

"That's not the point I'm trying to make." It was a non-answer, and they both knew it, although none called it as such.

"What is the point you're trying to make?" he asked.

"That anyone who can offer any of that can likely make anyone happier than she will be waiting around for the off-chance the one she loves notices her."

"Isn't that kind of cynical?" Speedy asked. "And if I think about it, wouldn't that be cruel to the guy you settle for?" He frowned. "Me, for instance? In the case of the one I—" he trailed off and shook his head. "If she wanted to be with me, even if she didn't love me, wouldn't that be cruel to me?"

She frowned. "How so?" she questioned. "You'd have the one you love with you, you'd have the opportunity to make her happier than she would be if she were left alone with no one to cherish her." She leaned forward closer to him. "Would that not make you happy?"

Speedy was silent for a while, unable to meet her eyes. He looked over her left shoulder, staring at the mural decorating the wall meant to depict some pastoral scene in rural Mexico. "Are you asking if I'd accept what I could get, and try to make her happy enough so that she'd eventually fall in deep like with me, if not love?" he asked his expression more serious than she had seen it for a long time.

She nodded, and he caught it in his peripheral vision. He let his eyes roam over the native looking farmers, the hay on the wagon painted in bright yellows, oranges and greens, and the pretty farm maid with the water pails making eyes at one of the farmers. "I don't think I'd have the strength of character to refuse her."

She nodded once, as if a decision had been reached, and took up her eating utensils again. "So, why don't you go for it, Roy?" she asked quietly. He looked at her. "Why don't you try to make her happy?" she pressed. "Why don't we show her our skit?"

Speedy was silent for so long that Raven looked back at her plate. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him pick up his own utensils again. "It wouldn't work," he repeated. She met his eyes, searching his face for an answer that he wasn't audibly giving. He shrugged. "She's seen me go out with other girls before," he added, "and all it's done is lower her opinion of me, I'm afraid."

Raven raised a brow. "My estimation of this girl just went up," she admitted to his wry amusement. "But you would not, by any chance, be comparing me to one of your bimbos, would you?"

Speedy couldn't help it. Raven using the word 'bimbo' was occasion for a smile, no matter what else was going on around him. "No," he admitted. "But do you think it'll make a difference?"

"It's different to see someone with a random girl that you know means nothing to him than it is to see him with someone that _might _be more than a one-night stand." Raven shrugged, as she did everything else: gracefully. "But you know her best, I suppose," she admitted. "Just as you know this approach best," she allowed, her return to her food successfully dropping the line of conversation.

It wasn't until a little while later that Speedy thought of a question he couldn't keep from asking: "Could _you_ be happy with someone that wasn't Robin?"

Raven paused, the fork with spicy ground beef halfway to her mouth. She lowered the food back to her plate and looked up at him. "I am, every day," she answered. "Every day that I spend with my friends, I'm happy, even if I'm not in a relationship with him," she continued. He must have shown the disbelief on his features, because she continued. "I don't need to be intimate with him to be happy, so long as he's still my friend."

"But you'd be happier being intimate with him than with anyone else?"

Raven lowered her eyes back onto her plate. "I cannot answer that," she replied, her tone soft yet monotonous. "I do not know what manner of happiness being anything other than his friend would bring me, let alone in comparison with anyone else."

Speedy stared at her in mild shock at her bare admission.

She met his eyes again, the calm blankness in them reminding him of the look she got when she tried to hide something from the world. "I know only that this coldness between us now…" she trailed off and seemed to think about her next words very carefully. "…_hurts_."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxx_

In retrospect, it was quite a strange thing, the interaction between her and Speedy. The morning had started casual and easy between them, Speedy typically playful.

The afternoon had shown a different side to him, and as he had shown her about the reservation, she had become aware of a deep sadness in him she had merely glimpsed at before. More than the realization that she had been unfair to him by ignoring his knowledge of the culture he had grown up in, she was shocked by the realization of discovering a likeness between them. She had known, of course, that his father had been killed when he was young and that he had been taken in by the Navajo. But his easy demeanor and playful camaraderie with all of the Titans, not to mention his cocky, self-assured ways always led her to believe his childhood on the reservation must have been good and nurturing.

The reality of the situation had surprised her, and sparked a flame of recognition inside her. Although he had been taken in by a Navajo, he had not been accepted as one of them. He had been looked at with suspicion and consequently derision. Some of the elders had argued as to whether he should remain with them or be given to Child Services.

These were all events startlingly relative to her own experiences on Azarath. She too had grown up in a culture, of that culture, but apart from it, never quite accepted no matter what she did or how she excelled.

She didn't know how to explain her sudden revelation to him, or even if she should, but his easy smiles and playful manner prevented her from attempting to even breach the subject with him. How could he be so upbeat and easygoing after what he'd been through, she wondered. She knew what it was like. Her response had been to shut herself away from people, but his had been to become this teasing, lively man. How could he stand it?

On the drive from the reservation, she was finding it hard not to actively enjoy his company. The first few times he stopped along the way from the reservation to the restaurant, she had been annoyed, but after seeing the coast through his eyes, she had found herself looking forward to each stop, even pulling on his shoulders once or twice when a twist in the road offered something potentially interesting to her.

He always stopped with interest and joined her in her appreciation of the thing, no matter how small.

At some point, it had occurred to her that she hadn't had such a day in a very long time, and she had wondered absently, what it was about him and whether she might not wish to have another day like this some time in the future.

What had prompted her conversation during dinner, she would never know (nor would she perhaps be likely to investigate her own thoughts deeply enough to find out), but she knew it had something to do with the day they'd had. With her desire to help him as he'd been helping her, and with the twist of something she'd felt when she remembered his face as he talked about the girl he loved.

By the time they got back to the Tower the rain was beating down on Raven's dark energy shelter in a steady, quick rhythm. When they stopped in front of the Tower's doors instead of inside the garage, Raven pulled her power back, exposing all but their own bodies to the pounding rain.

"May I ask why you pull up here instead of inside the garage?" Raven asked. She narrowed her eyes at him in what he was starting to figure out was a playful manner. "Did you forget the code to get inside the garage again?" she teased.

He turned back to look at her, still straddling his bike and grinned even as he shrugged. "No, I did not forget the code to get inside the garage again," he mimicked her tone and stuck out his tongue at her.

"Then?" she questioned.

He smirked. "Maybe it's because I've never had a more enjoyable umbrella?" he offered cheekily.

Raven's expression went from curious to un-amused in two seconds flat. "Oh, so I'm an umbrella, am I?" she asked.

"I said an _enjoyable…_" he trailed off and when he saw that made no impact on her, he tried again, "I meant beautiful?" he tried. She raised a brow and stood from the bike gracefully, pulling her power ever further into herself, leaving Speedy in the rain, still on his bike.

"Hey!" Speedy called, jumping off his bike and hurrying to catch up to her.

Raven paused and glanced at him over her shoulder, "Hay is for horses," she said primly, before turning around and continuing on her way.

Speedy laughed and darted for her, catching her wrist in his hand. "Alright, teacher," he said teasingly. "And how should I ask someone to stop running away from me?"

"A gentleman always addresses a _lady_ with respect and never calls out like a fishmonger," Raven answered, her voice taking on the tone it did whenever she was repeating something she had read in a book.

"Have you been into the Regency romances, again?" he asked, the smile on his face never wavering.

"Jane Austen is no mere 'regency romance,'" she answered. "Her works are classics—each of them masterful examples of—"

"I never would've pictured you for a romance reader," he interrupted, the laughter plainly evident in his voice.

She nearly visibly bristled. "Of course, you wouldn't know a classic if it dropped down out of the sky and brained you," she answered, freeing her wrist from his hand with a quick flick. "As a matter of fact, you'd probably go about swearing the sky was falling for weeks afterward, wouldn't you?" she asked, walking away and taking her dark energy shield 'umbrella' with her.

Suddenly, her way was blocked by Speedy, hands on hips, staring down at her. "Mr. Darcy would never allow a lady to walk without the assistance of his arm, now would he?" he asked, extending his elbow with an elaborate bow.

Raven raised both her eyebrows and stepped to the side, avoiding him. "No thank you," she said.

But he was suddenly in her way again. "Why I never!" he exclaimed in mock offense, and a bad British accent. "To be so thoroughly snubbed!" He both hands to his heart and pitched backward as if he would swoon. "I shall perish on the spot!"

Raven rolled her eyes but couldn't keep her lips from lifting a little at the corners despite her best intentions. "Mr. Darcy would also never swoon," she reminded him, her voice dry, yet her eyes sparkling with mirth.

He looked at her from under his lashes and approached just close enough for her to see the mischief in his eyes, but only too late. His arms wrapped around her waist, holding her in place.

"A-ha!" he said joyfully. "Now you've _got_ to cover me with your shield umbrella-thingy."

($)Making a small sound of affront, she held herself wire-tight and still, retracting her power like a limb so that it covered no further than where his arms held her. Triumphant she lifted her chin and looked up at him, eyebrows raised in challenge.

Speedy laughed at her expression and shook his head reproachfully, clucking his tongue. "Alright, but keep in mind you've brought this on yourself." It was all the warning she got before he pulled her up flush against him, the wet that clung to him soaking her in an instant. He chuckled again when she squeaked an objection, his eyes smiling down into hers. "Just try and keep me out now, if you're that petty."

His head tilted down to keep their eyes in line and the water that sluiced down his face dripped steadily off his chin, the drops falling onto her pursed mouth. Reflexively, she licked the moisture from her lips, and the darting tip of her tongue drew his gaze.

The stubbornly defiant words she had been prepared to fire back at him died in her throat when his eyes caught hers again, and she watched the twinkle of mischief send gold sparks throughout the verdant green. That warmth and liveliness in his gaze she thought of as an intrinsic part of Speedy and the memory of its earlier absence jolted through her.

A thought, a curiosity not unlike the fascination of a particularly challegning puzzle, seized her. Could _she_ chase that haunted emptiness from his face? Could she, somehow, reinforce for him how he was appreciated, that the sting of unrequited love could be eased by the tenderness of another, even if that acceptance was not the love he sought?

If she could, she thought, as the silence between them stretched and filled with the commingling of their breath, she realized she would do what she was able to reanimate his face, and banish the hurt in his eyes that looked so wrong to her, even if it was only for a time.

With this vague notion in her mind, she found herself holding very carefully still as his head bent toward hers, and when his rain-wet lips slid over hers, she shocked herself by pressing against his mouth, welcoming him instead of passively accepting.

She was surprised to feel neither an empathic rush of relief that she had not rejected him, nor a tide of lust at the touch of a willing woman, but instead, when his hand slipped up the back of her neck to support the back of her head, fingers tangling in her hair, she felt only the soft insistence of his lips against her own.

This was different, somehow, than any kiss they had shared for the benefit of an audience, different even than the stolen kiss at the nightclub, and she could not quite pin down why, and as the hand at her waist slid around to her back, the light caress of his fingernails along her spine effectively distracted her from the question.

Caught in the sensation of wet skin sliding over damp flesh, she kissed him back with more intensity, her own hands sliding up the clinging fabric of Speedy's shirt, up the plane of his stomach and over his chest to his shoulders, her nerves thrilling at the way his muscles contracted under her touch. She had no space for thought of how or why when the kiss deepened, and she followed his lead when his thumb along her jaw tilted her head farther to one side, losing herself in the feel and the taste of him.

Her arms looped behind his neck, half in response to the growing weakness in her knees, and she distantly thought that the thudding of her heart and the fluttering in her stomach were not at all unpleasant, that this was _good_, even, and the notion that had been gathering itself like a phantom in the shadows in the closet sprang upon her.

Would it really be so bad, it asked of her, if this were not pretend?

At that instant, the little black shield that hovered over them like an afterthought, keeping only the least of the rain off of them, sparked and died, and the cold drizzle fell over them with renewed vigor.

Gasping, they broke apart, and Raven pushed back from him unnecessarily, stumbling a little in her sudden haste, and he rocked back from her as well, Speedy's face as flushed and shocked as hers.

She welcomed the reason-restoring cold of the rain on her face and shoulders, but the realization that had been struggling to emerge all day only repeated itself. Would it really be so bad?

Speedy's eyes darted over her face as they stood gasping and staring at each other, and the rain that washed down his cheeks and dripped from his hair successfully disguised his expression until he had mastered it into an uncertain and apologetic smile. lifting his hands as if to show them empty of weapons, he took a tentative half-step further back, as if deliberately putting more distance between them. "Ah, sorry," he breathed. "Don't know what got into me... too caught up in the movie-cliché romance of the moment, I guess." He laughed falteringly, a self-deprecating note undermining the pretense of humor. "And what a wasted opportunity!" He ran his hands over his wet hair and down his neck, leaving his hair sticking up in a riot of wild carroty spikes. He chuckled again, a sound like broken glass caught in the throat. "I mean, if you want to go and get Robin, we can always do a repeat performance for his ben--"

The crunch of gravel under her heel as she whirled around cut him off like a gunshot, and he had no words to stop her as she strode with care and purpose through the Tower doors.

Left standing alone in the rain, Speedy cursed vehemently and grabbed at his messy hair, violently kicking gravel in the direction of his abandoned motorcycle. "Great fucking job, Roy," he muttered snidely, "world class fuckup, you are." ($)

When he entered the Tower (once he was certain Raven had had enough time to make it to her room) Speedy was very thankful for a few things: First, he was thankful that the Tower was quiet and still. He wasn't sure why the others were asleep just before midnight, but he wasn't about to question his good fortune. He wasn't sure he could face any of the others or their questions right at that moment. He was also very thankful that he happened to know that there was a guest bathroom on the first floor of the Tower and that the Titans tended to keep clean clothes in their laundry room for days before anyone remembered to put them away. If he hadn't, he might have had to sleep in his wet clothes, since there was absolutely no way he was going to show up in her room (or even on her floor, for that matter) after the latest example of his stupidity.

He made quick use of the spare towels in the bathroom, and a little foraging in the laundry room produced a clean pair of sweat pants, which he guessed belonged either to Beast Boy or Kid Flash since they were a little short on the leg. He felt a little ridiculous in them, but beggars couldn't be choosers so he made himself comfortable for a long night on the sofa.

As soon as his back hit the somewhat lumpy sofa, he wondered whether she had fallen asleep by now. It had been nearly an hour since she left him in the rain. He turned on his side facing the black screen of the television and wondered whether she might kill him if she woke up in the morning to find him on the floor by her bed. He could always use the excuse that it wouldn't do for the others to see him sleeping on the sofa and think they had had a fight, but he wasn't sure that she'd care about appearances at that precise moment.

Then again, she hadn't exactly look _mad_ so much as…

He couldn't even think of what she looked like. She looked cold. Shut down, the way she did the first time he ever laid eyes on her. The way she did whenever she faced down a stranger.

And they had made such progress.

That whole conversation during dinner was a marvel, although he had been uncomfortable enough during it to be glad when she changed the subject, in retrospect he realized she had never before been so open with him. He wasn't sure he had ever witnessed her being so open with anyone.

'_Except,'_ he thought, _'she's probably that open with him. With Robin.'_ His fist clenched on the sofa cushion he was using as a pillow and he worked very hard at letting it go. He knew that was the way of things when he first started this whole deal, didn't he, though? He reminded himself that he did, he reminded himself that it was his own damn fault for forgetting that just because she was more open with him and because she did that almost laugh thing she did several times during the day and because he hadn't had to remind her to put her arms around him as they rode on the bike, or because they didn't talk about Robin or any of the Titans all day except during dinner that her heart didn't belong to him.

He might be her friend, but that's all he'd be.

'_What possessed me to kiss her?_' he asked himself for the umpteenth time.

Thinking back, he knew he had seen something welcoming in her eyes, he hadn't been so lost in the moment that he would've kissed her if she looked scared or disgusted. She looked…

'_Curious,'_ he realized. He scoffed and turned onto his back. She had looked at him the way she looked whenever she was trying to solve a puzzle, and he had mistaken it for welcome. He tried to find a comfortable place and tucked his arms behind his head. But she had responded, he knew that was true. He had felt her arms around him, had felt the way she kissed him back.

Why? Had she been thinking it was Robin? Had she given herself up to his kiss thinking she'd open her eyes and see Robin there instead?

Or maybe she thought kissing him would prove her point at dinner.

He couldn't forget how vehemently she had argued the point that his 'friend' might be happy with him even if she didn't love him and wondered how much she might have been thinking about herself during that whole discussion. Had she been testing her theory when he kissed her, wondering if she could forget that she wished it were Robin instead?

He sat up, angry at her the way he had been for all of two minutes during dinner when she proposed the theory. And, just as quickly as it did during dinner, the anger left him and he fell back against the sofa, grunting half-heartedly when some broken spring inside the couch dug into his back. He couldn't blame her for trying to find a sensible, logical way around her predicament. It wouldn't be Raven if she didn't try. He couldn't escape the realization that it was his own damn fault, anyway.

Hadn't he wanted her to look at him like more than just a friend? Hadn't he wanted to make her wonder what it would be like to be with him? He just didn't count with her logic making her wonder if she could be with him while _still loving_ Robin.

He hadn't known what he was asking for, really.

Would he be able to welcome her into his arms and his life knowing she was seeing him only as a replacement? Could he?

He had told Robin, at the beginning of this whole charade, that he wanted Raven to choose between them, knowing she could have her pick and he meant that. Unless he knew she would choose him even being able to have Robin, he couldn't let her settle. But really, he didn't have to wait for her to choose. Tonight had proven that, if nothing else.

'It doesn't really matter does it?' he thought, blinking in the darkness of the common room, staring at the blankness of the ceiling. Because he knew Robin loved her. He knew her 'what if' scenario would never come to pass. He knew Robin was just on the brink of admitting to her and everyone else around just how he felt about her.

And then it would all end.

Things might have already ended anyway after tonight, but even if they hadn't…

'Even if they hadn't what?' he asked himself, turning over to face the back of the couch, hoping that by closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep, it would end the thoughts from running rampant, but he knew it wouldn't.

What had happened to all of his self-preservation instincts, he wondered. Was he stupid to let himself get this involved even knowing it was all just a lie? 'Yes,' he answered himself. 'You're a fool, Harper, a full-blown idiot.' For awhile there, he had thought that perhaps she might choose him even knowing she could have Robin. If he'd only been paying attention, really paying attention, during dinner he might have been able to figure it out sooner.

She might settle for him, but he didn't want her to settle.

'Maybe I should just cut my losses and call it quits,' he considered, on his back again and staring at ceiling. He dismissed the thought almost as soon as it occurred to him. He would see this through. He had to. For _Raven_, he had to. He just had to remember where he stood with her that was all. He couldn't let himself get caught up in the game.

'That's right,' he thought, 'I've got to remember: this is just a game.'(2)

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

**Notes:**

(1) The information about the 'hogan' I got from Wiki mostly, with a few other outside sources. However, what I used here for Speedy's reservation isn't exactly strictly true. The general gist of it is, but not the entirety. I kind of made it suit my purposes. I hope any Navajo out there will forgive me for the liberty.

(2) This is a direct quote from the last stanza before the chorus repeats of the one song that make me _most_ think of Speedy in this fic, "A Beautiful Lie" by 30 Seconds to Mars.

($) Abbie's writing, not mine, begins here and ends when next you see the mark. I'm almost ashamed at how meager my writing is alongside hers, but there it is.

**A/N:** So…whaddya think? Worth the wait? I've got Chapter 11 mostly written already, I think. I might need to tighten it up a bit too, but yeah…mostly done. Might come up relatively quickly on the heels of this one, although definitely not for another week or so.


	12. Chapter 11: Revelation

**A/N:** I have had this chapter done for the last several weeks. I put it aside because I wasn't sure it was what I wanted this chapter to be, but after much consideration and consultation, I've figured out that it has be there. I can't leave the last chapter where I did and not show what happens with Speedy on the couch, although it feels sort of dragging and a little boring to me.

I guess y'all be the judges.

**Thanks:** As always, to my beta-angels, _**Kysra**_ and _**Absentia**_. I'll post the review responses tonight, because otherwise, it'll have to wait until after Louis XVI gets decapitated. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Go to my 'emsscraps'.)

_**Stupid Cupid 11  
**__**Revelations**_

_"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."  
_- Oscar Wilde

Cyborg dreamed. Not a lot of people knew that, but whatever of his biologically human brain was left, perhaps his heart, provided dreams when he went into the generally unconscious rest of recharging. He didn't dream often, and usually, they were nonsensical and random.

Sometimes, though, very few times, he dreamt of darkness, of screams, fire, and helplessness. It was for just this eventuality that he had an interrupt command installed in his recharge program. The first time he had been caught in a nightmare without being able to wake up was more than enough motivation for him to install it.

So, when he found himself awake and sweating on his recharge bed, he once again thanked the interrupt program for working and disconnected himself. He wouldn't be going back to recharging just yet.

Instead, he decided to go the common room to play some mind-numbing video-games. It was usually the only thing that helped get him back in the restful mood for sleep after one of his infrequent nightmares.

So, when he turned on the overhead light for the common room and Speedy bolted into a sitting position, Cyborg's first thought at seeing the guilty look on the archer's face was that he was going to kill him.

What they did in their own room was beyond his control, but he'd be damned if he let them make nookie on the couch _he_ sat on!

Speedy blinked back the sudden flood of light and took a moment to focus on the gleaming metal Cyborg standing near the doorway. When he finally saw him and the look on his face, he fell back against the couch with a groan, a half-hearted, "Ow," once he was down there.

"What the hell's wrong with you, man, the COUCH?!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Raven, you best teleport you and your kinky ass boyfriend—"

"She's not here," came Speedy's bleak voice from the other side of the couch.

Cyborg raised a brow and approached. "Do you mean to say she kicked your skinny carcass onto the couch?"

Speedy sighed and didn't answer. "Can I just go back to pretending I'm sleeping, now, please?"

Cyborg stood over the arm of the couch and looked down at Speedy menacingly. "What did you do?" he asked.

Speedy blinked at Cyborg and turned over, hiding his face from the light and, presumably, Cyborg's glare. "Can we skip the ass-kicking until the morning, huh?" he asked, his voice muffled. "I'm not done kicking my own ass just yet."

Cyborg felt a twinge of pity for the boy and with a heaving sigh, walked to the television and flipped switches and took remotes, successfully booting up their gaming system. He walked to the couch and pushed Speedy's legs off so he could sit. With a sigh of his own, Speedy sat up and looked blankly at the tv. "There is a spare bedroom you could use, you know?" Cyborg said as the game went through the motions of starting.

"Can't," Speedy said. He caught Cyborg's questioning stare out of the corner of his eye and so he shrugged. "It's on her floor – I don't dare risk it."

"Sheesh," Cyborg exhaled, unable to completely keep the smile from his voice. "Must've been some fight."

"There was no fight," Speedy said. "No argument, no fight, and she didn't kick me out of her room, I fucked up, though and I just can't face her right now," he looked at Cyborg. "Is that enough explanation or do you need more?"

Cyborg began playing the game, the audio on low, for a few moments before he reached a reprieve in the attack on the screen and he turned to face Speedy. "I don't need to hear any of it from you at all," Cyborg answered seriously. He went back to the game. "We all make mistakes, and it's up to her to deal with yours, I guess. Plus, you already know I'll make you dog meat the moment I find out you hurt her on purpose." He shrugged, nonchalantly dispatching enemies one after another.

Speedy watched Cyborg play blankly for a few moments, thinking over Cyborg's words and his own thoughts. "Did you ever consider," Speedy asked sedately, practically unlike himself, "that _she_ might be the one to hurt _me_?"

Cyborg was momentarily thrown by the depth of the question, the seriousness to it, and his hands paused in his coordinated attack of the robot drones on the screen. His character died and as the screen went through the motions of announcing the end of the game and re-starting, he turned to Speedy. "Do you love her?" he asked suddenly.

Speedy didn't look at him, but paid careful attention to the screen with the video game he had never really liked playing anyway. "The first time I met her," Speedy said, still in that calm, serious tone, his expression far away and practically blank. "I thought she was this dark, brooding goth," he admitted. "Then, sometime later, I thought I'd figured out that she was one of those cold, unemotional people, you know," he exhaled. "And then Brother Blood happened," he looked at Cyborg and winced in remembered apology. "I hit her, did you know that?" he asked. "Under Blood's control, I fought her and I laid a few hits," he shook his head and turned away. "I apologized afterward, and it was the first time I spoke to her – really spoke to her, and I figured out she wasn't at all the way everyone thought she was – the way I had assumed she was."

He smiled and looked back at the screen. "She has a warped sense of humor, she's smart, she's kind, and she called me on my bullshit right off the bat. She hardly knew me, but she made me feel stupid for thinking I had to apologize to her for something I had no control over and ridiculous for even assuming I could've hurt her anyway all at the same time. Then, to top it all off, she made me laugh." He leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest. "Now, I know better, but back then, I thought she hadn't meant to make me laugh." He smiled at the memory. "Eventually, I don't remember what I said, but I said something and she smiled. Not even a big smile, just one of those half-smiles that's really more the insinuation of a smile than an actual lifting of her lips, but I saw her, _really saw her_, for the first time right then." The memory of what Speedy had taken to calling their true first meeting made him smirk as he remembered that not only did he really see her for more than just a silent standby with some killer moves, but he practically fell on his ass with the realization that she was damn smokin' hot. He wouldn't tell Cyborg that, however. "I guess I've been trying to get her to smile ever since – taking every chance I can get to talk to her to try, thinking of ways to make her happy whenever I'm not with her."

"You _do_ love her," Cyborg said into the silence, more than slightly awed.

Speedy looked at him and he was smiling, a kind of amused-amazed-shell-shocked kind of smile. "Is that what this is?" Speedy asked, adding silently, 'because it feels like hell.' He laughed mirthlessly. "Then, yeah, I guess I do."

"So what are you going to do?" Cyborg asked in his no-nonsense big-brother voice.

Speedy's eyes shot up to Cyborg's in surprise. That was definitely not the response he had been expecting. "What?"

Cyborg looked at him as if his meaning should have been obvious. "You love her," Cyborg repeated. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't think there's anything I can do," Speedy answered after the initial shock wore off. The words were half out of his mouth before he realized it, "She doesn't love me."

Cyborg started at Speedy's words and the feeling behind them. "What—" he started, then stopped. "What makes you think that?" he decided.

Speedy looked sideways at Cyborg and smiled, but there was no real humor in it. "Do you think any differently?"

Cyborg turned back to his game and started it again. "Raven is…" he trailed off and shrugged, mashing buttons but only half-heartedly paying attention to his character's advances on the television. "…complicated," he finished on a sigh. "No one can presume to know what she's thinking."

"You know her better than I do in many ways, Cyborg," Speedy said suddenly. "Do you think she loves me?"

Cyborg hesitated.

"Do you think she could love me?" Speedy pressed.

"I'm not really the person you should ask that," Cyborg answered. "She looks happier when she's with you, you make her smile and you've gotten her to do things we haven't before, and that's the only thing I can say."

"So who should I ask?" Speedy wondered.

"Dude, Raven," Cyborg answered, as if it should be obvious.

Speedy smirked in that mirthless way again that was cousin to a grimace. "The one person I can't ask," he admitted.

"Why the hell not?" Cyborg asked.

He looked at Cyborg. "Don't you get it?" Speedy asked. "If she suspected…" he trailed off and shook his head. "As long as she thinks this thing between us is casual, all is fine."

Cyborg rose a brow. "Is it, though?"

Speedy shrugged. "It'll have to be."

The ding of the elevator cut off Cyborg's reply and they both looked over the back of the couch to watch as Raven stepped out.

"Well, look at the time," Cyborg said, standing up and handing Speedy the controller, the game still going in the background so that through his inattention Cyborg's character was set upon and his brains were eaten by zombies.

Speedy held the controller without realizing he was holding it, his eyes on Raven in a pair of white pajama pants drawn all over by brightly colored, cartoonish planets and stars and little spaceships with aliens in them and a red and gray t-shirt with the words 'far out' drawn across the front, her hair picked up away from her neck and the loose tendrils around her temples and nape still humid with rain or shower.

"'Night, Rae," Cyborg said, casually touching her shoulder as he passed.

"Cyborg," Raven said, walking forward toward Speedy.

Speedy watched her until she was almost at the couch, then turned around and stared blankly at the tv.

"You're dead," Raven said, her tone as neutral as usual.

Speedy started and looked up at her, surprise clearly marked in his eyes. "What?" he asked.

Raven motioned to the television screen. "Ash."

Speedy blinked at the screen, but still wasn't following. "Who?"

She sighed. "Your character, Ash," she raised her hand toward the screen. "He was eaten by the armies of the dead."(1)

Speedy frowned as he noticed what the background of the game appeared to be as the computer showed the character Cyborg had been using to play being attacked and killed by zombies on a continuously playing loop with the words, YOU'RE DEAD flashing in gory red letters over it. "I wasn't playing," he set the controller aside. "Cyborg was."

Raven nodded. "Figures."

He turned to look at her. "Look, Raven--" he started.

Raven looked at him and the excuses or apology he didn't actually know how to say stalled in his throat. "I never got to say thank you for everything today," Raven said in his silence. She seemed to ignore Speedy's shock. "It was…" she looked from him to the television and back again. "…enjoyable," she finished. She seemed to notice his pants for the first time when she looked at him due to his silence. She frowned. "Why are you wearing Beast Boy's pants?" she asked.

Speedy was too dumbfounded to even think of answering her question. "I—"

She almost smiled at him and shook her head, turning around. "Don't stay up too late," she called over her shoulder. "If you wake me up when you come into the room, I won't be happy."

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

**Notes:**

(1) Can anyone guess to what this is a reference? Anyone? Anyone? Go ahead and guess and I'll give you a virtual thumbs up…and a cookie…and props in the next chapter if you're right.

**A/N:** How do I feel about this chapter? Eh. The question is: how do YOU feel about it?


	13. Chapter 12: Just Begun

**A/N:** Whoa, it's been awhile, huh? It'll be a year next month looks like. And truthfully, I've known what – more or less – this chapter would consist of for quite awhile, but I kept having trouble with the conversations in it. I couldn't visualize quite what they'd say or be about, and so I kept pushing the writing of it back. THEN, after much consultation with the Beta-Angels that are _**Kysra**_ and _**Absentia**_, I have hammered out a rough outline and figured out what I wanted this chapter to be and what the story was missing. (I kept feeling I was missing something…)

So, yeah. Here ya go.

**Thanks:** Special thanks are going out to several people. First, as always, to the aforementioned Beta-Angels, _**Absentia**_ and _**Kysra**_, without whom I still wouldn't know what I was missing in this story. Next, special thanks go to all the people that voted in my poll on 'emsscraps' about which story I should update next. This chapter for this story got the most votes, so y'all have to thank those 6 people that voted for _Stupid Cupid_ – otherwise, it looks like it might've been _Burn_ that got updated next. And finally, I have to thank, as I always do, each of you that reviewed for this story and tell me your theories and your thoughts and who you think Rae should stay with or what you think of the decisions everyone's making. All your comments REALLY help me a lot. Because, as I've said before, _**I know**_ how this story is going to end, but I don't know is the what-all about how it's going to get there (although I do know it somewhat) and your comments help keep me geared toward _**how**_ you guys are reading and interpreting what I'm putting out there, which helps me focus what I need to write more about or clear up, etc.

So, in other words…keep it coming!

I've also decided not to draw up my "Review Responses" journals anymore, since I don't think anyone really reads those responses on there. I'll just go through the reviews and if someone says something or asks something I need to respond to, I'll use ff.n's review response feature.

Okay…now, ON WITH THE SHOW!

_**Stupid Cupid****  
Chapter 12: Just Begun  
By Em**_

"_Does it feel like we've never been alive inside?/ Does it seem it's only just begun? / It's only just begun…"  
_- 30 Seconds to Mars, R-Evolve

It was the soft click of Raven closing her dresser drawer that woke Speedy from a slightly disturbing dream that he wouldn't remember, since the very moment he woke up his consciousness was overwhelmed with the fresh scent of lavender and vanilla.

Smiling, Speedy stretched and yawned, opening his eyes to find Raven staring at him from across the room. He let his eyes take her in – she was wearing jeans and a yellow and brown plaid, short sleeved tank, and her hair, still moist from her shower, curled a little at the tips around her face.

Noting that he was awake, Raven turned back to her dresser. "Sorry I woke you," she said.

"No worries," he said and stretched again. "I could get used to waking up to the smell of you," he added, curling on his side, digging the nearest pillow under his cheek, content to watch her as she searched for something in her socks drawer.

She smirked as she searched her drawer; Speedy watched it curl her lip in profile. "I shudder to wonder what smells you usually wake to," she said, not turning.

Speedy smiled. "Chicken or beef empanadas with special Mas y Menos sauce, actually," he answered.

Raven turned to him, brow creased.

"Cross my heart," he affirmed, only without the action. "It's their idea of breakfast," he half sat up to better watch her, "and that sauce just permeates through the steel, right up to the sleeping level."

"Empanadas?" she echoed, shaking her head.

Speedy nodded, the sheet falling to his waist as he sat up fully to run his hands through his hair and over his face. "And they wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, too," he added. "_Every_ time." Raven was watching him, and it occurred to him after a moment just how closely she was paying attention. He smirked and stretched his arms toward the ceiling, letting them rest on his head. "So, I guess I couldn't convince you to come back to bed for another few hours?"

She turned away from him and looked at her drawer, but she didn't look like she knew just what she needed for a few moments. "I've slept more in the days you've been here than I am at all used to," she admitted.

He laughed. "Well, then, we can always do something _other_ than sleep," he suggested, waggling his brows even though she refused to turn back to him.

She tried not to smile, her eyes falling on the perfect pair of socks to wear under her boots.

Speedy watched her back for a few moments. "As a matter of fact," he said casually. "I've been thinking."

"No!" Raven said in mock surprise. "You? _Really_?" she threw over her shoulder as she plucked the socks out of the drawer.

He ignored her. "I was thinking," he continued pointedly as she walked to the foot of the bed and sat, starting to slip on her socks. "That we're not doing nearly enough kissing in public."

Raven turned to look at him on the bed, narrowing her eyes. "You know what I think?" she asked. He shook his head. "I have a sneaking suspicion you're having way too much fun with this."

Speedy looked entirely unrepentant as he leaned back against her headboard. "Are you kidding? Of course I'm enjoying this," he admitted. "Kissing you is fun!"

Raven was at a loss for words at his blunt admission. His laughter brought her out of her shock and she turned back to her boots. "I knew you had an ulterior motive," she said, standing up and looking at him, hand on hip.

Speedy continued laughing. "Hey, that's not true!" he argued. "Now, come on," he insisted when she looked skeptical, wincing internally. "In my defense, I didn't know you'd be a good kisser when we started this thing."

She couldn't help but smile a little at his little boy pout. She managed to maintain the skeptical expression, however.

He laughed. "Okay, so maybe I thought you'd probably be an amazing kisser," he admitted. "I mean, I don't know if you realize this, but you're pretty hot."

Raven sighed.

"No, seriously," he continued. "There are guys who would kill to have the opportunity I have here," he told her. "So yeah, I'm not gonna take advantage, but you can bet I'm going to enjoy what I'm allowed." She shook her head and turned her back on him, walking to her jewelry drawer. He laughed again. "I mean, I'm sure there are guys sitting in their mother's basements meeting in clubs and trying to buy your underwear on Ebay."

She froze. "What?" she turned to him. "Wait, my underwear?" her eyes opened wide for a moment, then narrowed to dangerous slits. "How the hell did they get my underwear on Ebay?!"

Speedy laughed again. "Well, it's not really your underwear, I'm sure," he assured her casually. "but they don't know that."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "And you do?"

"No!" He looked utterly mischievous and she wasn't at all sure whether she should believe him or not. "How could I know what underwear you have or don't have?" he insisted. "I don't even know that your underwear drawer is the top one on the left –" he cut himself off and tried to backtrack. "—er, I mean, I don't even know if you wear underwear!"

Raven scoffed, recognizing that he was probably joking and knowing that the conversation could only go downhill, began to walk away. "I think I'll go downstairs for some tea," she declared.

"I'll meet you after my shower and I'll make brunch," he offered, standing.

She stopped and turned back to him. "Did you want to be a chef when you were a child?"

He laughed, growing serious. "Yes, you have found out my secret," he said in mock shame, extending his arms. "I'm a frustrated chef," he lowered his head.

She rolled her eyes."Better you than me," she threw over her shoulder as she continued for the door.

Speedy's laughter trailed behind her. "Does Robin know about the blue thong!?" he called after her.

Raven decided to assume he had made a lucky guess, because she really needed her tea.

_x-x_

The kitchen -- the whole Tower, really-- was quiet as she exited the elevator to the lower levels, flipping on the kitchen lights as she entered the space. She wasn't surprised, after all it was before noon on a…

She trailed off as it occurred to her that she wasn't sure what day of the week it was.

She looked at the calendar hanging off the side of the fridge automatically when she reached for the milk. It was Monday. Before noon. Which meant that Cyborg's Little League practice should be in full swing, Starfire was just getting started on her weekly re-organization of her closet, Beast Boy was sleeping off last night's marathon GameStation game-off and Robin—

She winced, internally. Robin was probably finishing up with the weekly city council meeting. He probably hadn't eaten anything. He never did. She knew he hated the politics so much he couldn't bear to eat before attending the video conference.

She reached for the yellow and red mug, then stopped. Perhaps he wouldn't want to see her? Her hesitation lasted all of three seconds. He did save her milk the morning before for her cereal. He hadn't had to do that.

Plus, she reasoned, she would just go in and hand him a mug of tea and walk back out. He wouldn't even have to talk to her if he didn't want to.

Purposefully, she filled the teapot with enough water for two mugs and pulled out a bag of the Irish Breakfast tea along with her Oolong.

Once the kettle boiled over, and Raven had poured the water and dipped the bags in the respective mugs, she walked briskly to the room off to the side of the rec room, commonly termed the briefing room and paused at the door for a few moments, her senses alert for any signs that the meeting might still be going on. Hearing only silence beyond the door, she deftly turned the handle and stepped quietly inside. Sparing only the briefest of glances at the dark vid screen they used for conference calls, her eyes focused instead on Robin where he sat at the conference table, facing her but head lowered and scribbling notes in the files in front of him.

Raven had reached the table, placed his mug next to his hand and turned on her heel to walk back outside before she heard the pen stop on the paper.

"Thanks," he said casually. His tone prompted her to turn around, and his eyes were on her as he picked up the mug she'd brought him and took a sip. "I could certainly use this this morning."

Raven recognized his words in the spirit in which they were offered. They were, perhaps, the most civil words he had spoken to her since Speedy's arrival. Glad that he'd recognized her bringing of the tea as a peace offering, she turned fully back to face him, taking a sip from her own mug. "That bad?" she asked, raising a brow.

He rolled his eyes and took another drink of tea, swallowing slowly. "Are you kidding?" he asked. "The Jump City Museum heist was on the agenda today."

She showed sympathy on her expression which he caught. "Not to mention," she started, thinking, "Weren't you going to mention your theory on the crime lull at this meeting?"

He nodded slowly. "Did that too."

She looked suitably impressed, reaching into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a few packets of sugar. "Then perhaps you need these?"

He laughed, taking one and shaking it into his mug. He looked around. "No spoon to stir it?"

She shrugged noncommittally. "Wouldn't fit in my pockets," she offered. "Use a finger," she suggested.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You forgot, didn't you?" he asked. She met his eyes and took a sip of her drink and he knew she wasn't going to respond, so he looked down at his brew and shook his head, instead. "Or I could just leave it."

Raven lifted one shoulder in a shrug and pulled out one of the conference room chairs sitting on it gracefully. "What did the Chief say about the museum heist?"

"He said the DA would be filing charges, but that he couldn't promise he wouldn't make any deals with the gang members in order to get the leader."

Raven exhaled, shaking her head. "Lawyers," she said, only half under her breath. "Do they think they're going to just go back and be useful members of society again?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I suppose it's all part of being a civilized society," he answered, but not like he was altogether convinced.

"So, what did the Commissioner think about your theory about the lull?"

His lips pressed tight and he exhaled. "He didn't," he answered, then shook his head and met her eyes. "That's a little harsh, sorry," he said, taking another sip of tea. "He said that we had no evidence that there was anything going on under the surface and that we couldn't assume every break in criminal activity meant someone bad was planning something big."

"We _have_ evidence," Raven pointed out.

"Circumstantial, at best," Robin sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Truth is, maybe he's right," he shrugged. "Anyway, he essentially said we should stop bitching and take advantage of the break."

Raven raised a brow and he smirked. "He said that?"

"Okay, so maybe not verbatim."

"Hmm," she replied. "Did they say anything about Beast Boy's last test scores?" she inquired, leaning back in her chair.

He smirked. "He's going to have to take it again," he said. "But we knew that." Raven nodded. "They did tell me that they'd send over a tutor if we felt he needed it."

Raven twisted her lips in a wry grin. "Unless she's cute and blonde, I doubt Beast Boy would want a tutor."

Robin grinned, but continued. "He wouldn't pay any attention to _me_ as a tutor," he mused.

"You're not cute and blonde," Raven remarked.

Robin shook his head. "Maybe if you tutored him, though?" he suggested.

Raven raised a brow. "I'm not cute and blonde, either," she pointed out.

"You're not blonde, no," Robin confirmed.

It took her a moment to recognize the compliment, and she smiled into her mug when she did.

"The Commissioner said that the Department of Education was impressed with your consistent high scores before you graduated," he said before she could figure out what to say. "And BB does respect you enough to pay attention."

"I'll talk to him about it," Raven consented. "But I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to get him to focus, Robin," she warned. "Maybe we should consider getting him on Ritalin or something," she mused.

Robin smirked. "We tried that last time, remember?" he asked. "He started shifting in the middle of sentences for no apparent reason and literally jumping off the walls."

"Ah, yes," she confirmed. "So maybe a lower dose?"

Robin shook his head. "The make-up test is in about a month."

Raven nodded and drank more tea.

In the silence, Robin took another sip of his cup, watching her over the rim and she knew he was about to decide whether or not to tell her something.

"Spit it out," she said, lowering her mug to the table.

"They said Chang was sent to Arkham in the hopes Arkham would have a better chance of keeping him behind bars for what he did to you."

Raven took another drink from her cup. "Here's hoping he pisses off Joker or Two-Face while he's in there," she said off-handedly. "If I get my hands on him he won't be so lucky."

Robin didn't take her seriously, not really, so he ignored that statement. "We haven't had the chance to really talk about it," he said softly. Her eyes met his. "You okay?"

She shrugged, and a small smile graced her lips. "I'm fine," she answered. "He didn't have enough time to do any real damage."

Robin flinched. "I should've –"

She didn't let him finish, putting down her mug and looking at him directly. "Don't, Robin," she interrupted. "You couldn't possibly have gotten there any faster than you did."

"He shouldn't even have gotten a chance to take you," he said, anger at himself in every movement.

She shook her head. "And how is that your fault?" she asked. "Who knew he was even after me at all, let alone that he'd try to capture me when I went to the bookstore?" She exhaled. "If it's anyone's fault that I got snatched, it's my own." She shook her head again, ignoring him when he leaned forward as if he wanted to say something. "It is," she insisted. "I should've been paying more attention to my surroundings and not let him get close enough to hit me with a dart in the first place."

"If I'd been with you, he wouldn't have gotten the chance."

She looked at him for a few moments. "If you'd have been with me, he might've gotten both of us." She leaned back a little. "Neither one of us can fight against a tranq dart, Robin." She smiled a little at him. "And then where would I have been?" She looked down at the table.

"Still, I should've…"

She sighed. "Yes, exactly," she interrupted again. "Because it's your job to keep 24 hour surveillance on me," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

He started to smile, but it faded before it reached his eyes and he looked back at the neat pile of papers he had in front of him. "I guess that's a moot point now, isn't it?" he asked. He glanced at her and at her raised eyebrow, he continued. "Someone else already is with you nearly the whole day."

She almost choked on the sip of tea she had taken, swallowing hastily to be able to speak. "Not the whole day," she said, trying for casual.

He wouldn't meet her eyes. He knew he was treading on shaky ground. "Nearly."

She exhaled. "Maybe," she answered, but not like she really believed it. "Still," she added, "Speedy is only staying until the end of the week," she announced. "And once he's gone, that will end, and then I'll be back to my normal routine."

"Do you think he's just going to go as easy as all that?" Robin asked, sincere disbelief in his tone.

Raven frowned at him. "He has to go back to his team eventually."

Robin met her eyes and even through his mask, he could feel her eyes were on his. "If I were him…" he said carefully. "I wouldn't."

Raven frowned in confusion. "Robin, I don't know what you think Speedy feels for me, but—"

Robin's laughter cut her off. "Raven, god, you're so oblivious sometimes," he said, but not at all heatedly, because it was just starting to occur to him that maybe she was _that _oblivious.

Raven meanwhile, had bristled. "Oblivious?" she asked.

"He loves you," Robin said plainly.

"Love?" she asked, as if he had said Speedy was a robot or an enemy. She scoffed. "That's _way_ off." She shook her head. "This is just casual between us, Robin—"

She cut off when Robin had pushed off his chair and reached out to grab her hand where it rested on the table next to her mug. She looked at him in surprise.

"Do you really believe that?" he asked.

She blinked in confusion. "Of course," she answered.

"So, go out with me tomorrow," he said suddenly.

Raven blinked even more furiously. "What?" she asked, fighting to keep her breath even. His request had hit her so unexpectedly that she didn't have time to filter her thought before asking, "Robin, what the hell are you talking about?" Speedy's plan couldn't _actually_ be working…_could it?_

He let her go and leaned back, but he didn't sit down again. "I had wanted to ask you to come with me to pick up something from Alfred in Gotham," he said slowly. "But I didn't want to interrupt if you and Speedy were…" he trailed off, his jaw tightening. "I didn't want to go alone," he admitted instead. "And you're the only one that knows…"

It took Raven a moment to decide. After all, Speedy had wanted her and Robin to get together, hadn't he? This sort of thing would fall right into his plan, even if he had to cool his heels around the Tower with the other Titans instead of whatever nefarious plot he had planned for the day.

She was about to answer, when the door opened behind them and Cyborg stood framed in the doorway.

"Hey," Cyborg greeted, the smile slipping from his lips when he noticed the atmosphere between them.

"Good morning," Raven greeted, the first to react.

The smile returned with a vengeance and Cyborg turned to look only at her. "Speedy started cooking," Cyborg told her, amused.

"Yes, he told me he would," Raven answered.

"He's wearing the Kiss the Cook apron," Cyborg said, laughing. "I thought y'all would want to see this."

Raven smirked at him and rose from the chair, taking her mug. "I think I'd best go help him before he sets something on fire."

"_You_ help actually _cook_ something?" Cyborg asked, aghast. Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "Please don't," Cyborg said in mock horror.

"Fine," Raven conceded. "I'll just watch him and put out any fires if they happen." With a glance at Robin, she walked toward the door and Cyborg, only to be stopped by Robin's voice calling her name. She turned back to look at him.

"Are we on for tomorrow?" he asked.

She glanced at Cyborg, and then back to Robin. "At what time?" she asked.

"I thought we'd get an early start – around nine?" Robin answered.

She nodded succinctly, then with another glance at Cyborg, left the conference room.

Cyborg waved to her and turned back to Robin who was picking up his papers and his own mug. Cyborg stepped fully into the conference room and closed the door behind him. At the soft click of sound, Robin looked up to see Cyborg with his arms crossed, eye trained intently on him.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Cyborg asked, and he was anything but amused.

_xxxxx_

**A/N: **Okay, so I know it's a bit of a cliffie…but put down the pitchforks and torches! Remember how up top I said that I'd hammered out a "rough outline"? I know what the next chapter is going to be! (Granted, that doesn't mean it's going to come out anytime soon…I'm going to try to work on _Burn_ next, but I might just buck up and write the next chapter of _Just A Game_ instead.) STILL….it doesn't seem as hopeless as this chapter seemed to me!

Plus…Abbie never lets me forget about this story, do you Abbie???

::hesitant grin::


	14. Chapter 13: Decisions and Resolutions

**A/N:** So, um...hi? I know it's been forever since I updated this (two years? Really? Has it been that long? OVER two years? Wow.) And I probably won't help my case by telling you that this bit that I'm posting actually has been written since pretty much two years ago. It was actually part of a longer bit, but that next bit hadn't been beta'd. Abbie actually beta'd part of (most of) this part, but then she got complicated in life and never finished the rest and I sort of lost myself in waiting for her to continue betaing it.

I've been getting your reviews and favorites and alerts, though. And the fact that people are still asking me to update this story finally got me off my ass tonight and made me actually review it and see if it was postable.

It's almost 2 am now, though, so I really have no energy to continue editing the rest of what I have, but I figured you guys might prefer to have 7 pages worth than nothing...am I right?

So, there's more written (NOT all, please note...I have not finished writing this story, nor have I written the end), and I promise not to wait another two years before posting the rest! I'll probably go through it sometime soon and post at least another part of it by next week at the latest?

**Thanks:** To everyone who has kept the faith. Rock on. I hope this was worth the wait.

_**Stupid Cupid  
Chapter 13: Decisions and Resolutions  
by Em**_

"_Although every man believes that his decisions and resolutions involve the most multifarious factors, in reality they are mere oscillation between flight and longing."_

-Herman Broch

"_Just what do you think you're doing?" Cyborg asked, and he was anything but amused._

Robin looked up, surprise naked on his features for a brief moment before it was replaced with confusion. He stood. "Doing?" he echoed, tone casual and unconcerned.

Cyborg shook his head and sighed. "In here, with Raven," he specified; he wasn't about to let this go.

Robin blinked, even more confused. "We were just talking, Cy," Robin answered. "She was asking me about my meeting with the—"

"You know that's not what I meant," Cyborg cut him off.

Robin couldn't seem to keep looking at him, and looked down at the stack of files and papers in front of him instead. Before he could further evade the topic, however, Cyborg spoke again.

Cyborg took a few steps closer to the table, landing his hands on the back of the chair Raven had just recently vacated and held it. "You realize Speedy was looking for her, don't you?" he asked.

Robin's head shot up to look at Cyborg and even though the younger teen still wore a mask, it wasn't hard for the metal man to see the flash of anger in his forehead, the clenching of his jaw, the bunching of his shoulders. "Yeah? So?" he asked intensely.

The eldest Titan sighed again, bringing a hand to massage the back of his neck and his voice, when he spoke, had softened - was almost sympathetic. "Rob, man, that isn't right—"

"What isn't right?" Robin snapped, slamming the papers he had forgotten were still in his hands down onto the table with a sharp clap. He shook his head and released the papers, forcing himself to unbunch his shoulders and look straight up at the metal's man's unyielding stare. "Raven and I were _just talking_," he insisted.

For a few moments, Cyborg didn't move and it seemed to Robin as if they were in the middle of the kind of staring match Cyborg and Beast Boy indulged in every so often, where they bet who would break first. Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was only moments, Cyborg blinked and looked away, exhaling as he pulled out the rolling chair and sat down. He opened his mouth to speak, but Robin had a sinking feeling he knew what Cyborg would say if he gave him a chance, and irrationally, he didn't want to hear it. So, he cut him off.

"Since when have you cared what happened to _him_?" Robin demanded. "Last _I_ remember, you were making plans on breaking his fingers," he mimicked Cyborg during the first few days of Speedy's appearance and mimed breaking a stick between his hands, "and threatening his future capacity to have children," he raised a brow challengingly. "And now, what?" he shrugged. "You've changed your mind?" Robin shook his head and leaned one fist on the table, his eyes blindly falling on the statistics reports he had walked the council through that morning. "He doesn't even _belong_ here," he breathed, lifting his gaze and meeting Cyborg's eyes again. "Who's side are you _on_, anyway?"

At those words, Cyborg narrowed his human eye, the light gleaming off the cybernetic one in warning. His hands on the table clenched, and his shoulders stiffened. Robin had seen that look before, and it usually preceded the appearance of the Sonic Cannon. "_Raven's_," Cyborg answered succinctly through grit teeth, jaw clenched in obvious restraint. "I watch _her_ back—I make sure _she_ doesn't get hurt, understand?" he leaned forward across the desk to pin Robin with his glare. Robin was momentarily speechless. "So," Cyborg paused and out of the corner of his eye, Robin could see Cyborg's hands clenching and unclenching as he took a moment to get his attention, "I will ask again," he enunciated. "Did you just ask Rae out?"

The reminder of Cyborg's loyalty was like a physical slap, and Robin blinked for a few moments, breathless as a result. "I asked her to run an errand with me to Gotham," he answered plainly. "That's all."

"That's _all_?" Cyborg asked, incredulous. "I can't believe you asked Raven to go to Gotham with you," he said, his tone one of mild disgust as the leash he'd managed to keep on his temper until then snapped with an almost audible crack. "I would've credited you with better sense that that, Robin!"

Robin narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw, hating the fact that it seemed he had to account for his motives to anyone, even Cyborg. "A week ago," he enunciated, exhaling slowly so that it didn't come out sounding angry. "asking her to accompany me on an errand wouldn't have so much as raised an eyebrow."

Cyborg wasn't mollified. "A week ago, she didn't have _a boyfriend_," he pointed out.

Robin scoffed, "Is that what he is?"

"You know," Cyborg shook his head, "since Speedy and Raven started going together, you've been skulking around with a bug crawled up your ass."

Robin looked at him in indignation. "And you haven't?" he challenged.

Cyborg shook his head emphatically. "No, actually," he argued calmly. "I've been acting hostile and protective."

"So what's the difference?" Robin challenged.

"The difference is I'm _supposed_ to act this way," he answered immediately. "Hell," he said, "I've still got one or two threatening gestures planned, a few meaningful looks to throw at him and several veiled threats to make," he waved his hand dismissively. "It's expected of _me_, since she's the closest thing I have to a little sister." He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at Robin. "Can _you_ say the same?"

Robin knew he couldn't. He was as far from considering Raven in the sibling category as Cyborg was to going vegetarian. But he couldn't figure out how to explain himself to Cyborg. He wasn't sure he wanted to explain, because he knew that to explain to anyone, he'd have to question himself first. And he wasn't anywhere near ready to do that. Everything was moving too quickly for Robin's liking, everything was changing, and he wasn't sure he could keep up.

In the time it took him to figure out what (if anything) to say to Cyborg's inquiry, Cyborg spoke again. "So, why'd you do it?"

Robin sat down in the chair that was thankfully still behind him. "Because she said it was just casual between them," Robin answered. He met Cyborg's eyes, recognized the disbelief there and went on. "She told me that Speedy couldn't love her."

Cyborg relaxed his stance, but only because he realized that although he hadn't intended it, it looked as if he and Robin were going to have this conversation after all. "You know better than anyone that what Raven says and what Raven actually feels aren't always co-extensive."

Robin nodded, leaning back in the chair. "I know," he confirmed, and the tone of his voice, the tightness of his jaw told Cyborg everything he needed to know.

Cyborg approached the table, sitting in the chair Raven had vacated. "Are you really going to do this, man?" he asked, trying his best to look right where Robin's eyes would be behind the mask.

"Do what?" Robin asked.

Cyborg sighed, loudly. "Get between Raven and Speedy," he spelled it out, because he knew if he let Robin beat around the bush, they'd be there all day.

Robin winced at his bluntness, but didn't bother playing coy anymore. "That morning, after the first night he spent in her room," he started instead of answering Cyborg's question, "I went to talk to him," he admitted.

Cyborg raised a brow. "And?" he asked.

"He said he thought I might be a rival," Robin spoke, with absolutely no inflection to his voice.

"Crap," Cyborg exclaimed. "Speedy's known how you feel about her?"

Robin shrugged. "Or suspected."

"And he still went with her?" Cyborg asked.

Robin didn't look happy. "That morning, when he asked," Robin paused. "I said no."

Cyborg frowned and shook his head, leaning back into the chair, "Now, that was a dumb ass move."

"She had just admitted to being attracted _to __him_, Cy, not _me_," he said, and his voice rose an octave above his normal tone, too close to an exclamation for Robin's liking.

"So you thought you'd deny the fact that you love her, is that it?" Cyborg asked. "God, Rob, you've really fucked this all up, haven't you?"

Robin's expression hardened. "You would've wanted me to what?" he asked. "Confess to her what I felt and mess up the way the whole team works together?"

Cyborg was unmoved by the hostility in Robin's tone and raised an eyebrow. "You mean you didn't want to chance her saying she didn't feel anything for you and having _that_ ruin the way the team works together."

Robin sighed. "You want me to admit I was afraid of losing her altogether?" he asked. "Okay, yeah. _Hell_, yeah," he admitted, more than a little angry still. "Do I prefer to have her as a friend, than have things be weird between us, _hell_ yeah, again." Robin's jaw worked as he decided what he should say. "I made a choice," he said, but not like he was happy. "I couldn't lose her friendship, Cy, I couldn't – even if it meant I never knew if we might be something more."

"You're right," Cyborg said sarcastically. "Ignoring her and being pissed all the time is a _much_ better way of dealing with it."

"Well, what would you have me do?" Robin demanded. "It turns out, I was right in not saying anything, wasn't I?" he asked. "She obviously likes Speedy."

"And yet you ask her out?" Cyborg asked.

"I—" Robin faltered, standing and pacing across his side of the room. "I _miss_ her." He shook his head and didn't see the softening of Cyborg's expression. "And she told me things would go back to normal when Speedy left next week, like she doesn't feel anything for him."

Cyborg sighed deeply, recognizing in that quick way he sometimes had, that there would be no right answer here; he had started this conversation thinking maybe Robin had been overreacting with the jealous bit, the way he always has been just a little jealous of the archer (if for no other reason than because he was another human amongst non-humans who kept pace with them), thinking (hoping) that maybe the Titan leader had lost his head a bit, but never imagining the depths of his obvious feelings for their resident dark witch. "You know he loves her, though, don't you?" he asked softly.

Robin stopped pacing, his shoulders dropping along with his arms. He looked at the one man whose opinion he had always trusted to be fair and true and knew he couldn't lie to him. "Yeah."

Cyborg crossed his arms and shook his head. "This is all sorts of messed up," Cyborg mused.

Robin sighed. "Speedy told me something else," he admitted. Cyborg looked at him and Robin had a moment to decide if he truly wanted to tell him this or not. He wasn't sure he could really believe it, and he could use an outside perspective.

"Well?" Cyborg prompted.

"He said he knew Raven didn't love him," he said.

Cyborg's eye widened. "Why would he admit that to you?"

Robin sat again. "When I asked him just that question, he essentially said that he wanted me to let her know how I feel."

"What the hell is that boy playin' at?" Cyborg asked, confused and worried.

"He said he wanted to know that Raven being with him was her choice, when she could be with me if she wanted to," Robin admitted. "He said that if he was with her, he didn't want to have to wonder what she was thinking whenever I walked into a room."

Cyborg's eyebrows rose. "That's pretty damn smooth," he admitted grudgingly.

Robin scoffed and looked at the ceiling. "So, what do I do, Cy?" Robin asked pensively. "Do I tell her how I feel at the risk of loosing her, or stay quiet at the risk of loosing her?"

Cyborg scoffed and it almost sounded like a laugh. "Seems you might be screwed either way, don't it?"

Robin looked at him, lips pursed. "Gee, thanks for the keen observation."

Cyborg shrugged. "Look, all I know is both of y'all sniffin' around her could be quite a bit more emotionally than she can handle," he said.

Robin's face registered recognition. "I hadn't thought of—" he started, only to be cut off by Cyborg.

"—but," he cut in. "If Speedy is saying he wants her to choose him knowing she's got you as an option, maybe Red's seen something we haven't, you know?" he asked.

Robin frowned.

"Okay, you obviously don't," Cyborg mused. "God, for being so observant-master-detective, you sure do miss things." Robin narrowed his eyes at him and Cyborg shrugged. "Speedy's singled you out to tell you he wants her to know she has a choice, right? Not Aqualad, not Beast Boy, not anyone else—_you_."

Recognition dawned and Robin's jaw went slightly slack as a result. "You mean he might think she—?"

"Yeah," Cyborg cut in again. "I think maybe he does." He shrugged. "It would make some stuff I've been noticing make sense." Robin raised his brows and started to ask what, but Cyborg waved his hand around before he could, shaking his head. "Don't worry about that," he said. "You have bigger things to worry about," he added.

"I know," Robin sighed.

Cyborg echoed him and for a moment, they were both silent. Then, Cyborg raised himself from the chair slowly and started to make his way out of the room. At the door, he stopped. Catching the movement, Robin turned slightly in his chair to look at him. "You better make tomorrow count," he advised.

Robin nodded and turned back to the desk, starting to gather his files.

When the door slid open, however, Cyborg turned around again. "And one more thing," he added. Robin stopped and looked at him again. "You fuck this up and hurt her, Boy Blunder, and when I get through with you, not the Batman with all his fancy computer crap will help identify you, understand?"

Robin was caught so off guard by Cyborg's vehemence, he could only nod dumbly before the metal-man walked out of the room, calling out, "Y'all went and started without me?" joyfully toward the kitchen.

_x-x_

**A/N:** So...worth the wait? Yes? No?


	15. Chapter 14: Just a Game

**A/N:** So, yeah...my only excuse for how long it took me to get this up is my own craziness in my life, and the fact that for the longest time, I couldn't bear to look at my computer when I got home at night and just wanted to do other things AWAY from the screen. So, I humbly apologize. The girls I asked to beta this did their job superbly and very quickly, and I've had their corrections sitting in my email for about two months now. And, I finally decided today to put the edits in and get this up for you guys.

**Thanks:** Specifically, to Misa and Leigh who were so good as to go through this for errors and tell me whether they thought the plot was heading in a good direction or if I totally missed the mark. But generally, I want to send out a GREAT BIG hug and kiss to all of you who continue to review the fic (all my fic, really) and encourage me to continue writing and let me know that you haven't forgotten about me or this fic.

I PROMISE wholeheartedly that I have not abandoned this fic or this fandom...I really do want to write again, but my muse has deserted me - sometimes, he whispers in my ear, but by the time I turn around to look for him, he's flitted off again (the flighty fairy). But I have no intention of abandoning any of these stories that I've started posting on here. So just...hang on with me, 'kay?

And I do read all the reviews you guys send me - you have no idea what a smile it puts on my face to read your words when I'm in the middle of one of my crazy hectic days, so please, keep them coming!

_**Stupid Cupid  
Chapter 14: Just a Game  
By Em**_

"_A quiet desperation's building higher / I've got to remember this is just a game..."  
_- 30 Seconds to Mars, "A Beautiful Lie"

The truth was that Robin knew Speedy and Raven were in the kitchen. He could hear them talking and could hear the archer joking with Cyborg and Beast Boy, too. The truth also was that this knowledge was precisely why it took him twenty minutes to put his files away and make it to the kitchen himself. To be _completely_ truthful, he _had_ thought of just avoiding the kitchen altogether and going to his room or the gym.

But he didn't. He made himself walk toward the noise and easy camaraderie his team had developed with the red-head - as if he'd been part of their team from the beginning. He braced himself for the sight of Speedy pretending to show Raven how to slice an onion or sauté a sauce, or maybe flip a flapjack, but when he was within sight of the kitchen, his eyes found Raven standing with her back to the room at the opposite counter from Speedy who was facing Beast Boy, sitting on the counter.

Cyborg was at the stove and Starfire was nowhere to be found.

"But it's eggs!" Beast Boy declared, unmindful of Robin's approach.

"So?" Speedy asked, whisking a concoction in a bowl with alarming speed.

"I'm a vegan! Duh!" Beast Boy pointed out, as if Speedy should know that by now. Beast Boy looked at Robin who was too busy looking between Raven and Speedy to notice.

Speedy looked up, smiled in greeting at Robin, and shook his head, bending back to his bowl. "I don't get why Vegans don't eat eggs...I mean, I get meat and all that, but why no eggs or milk?" he asked and Beast Boy was surprised to note he actually looked interested.

"Well..." he faltered for a moment, as if waiting for someone to stop him, but when the only other people in the kitchen went on about their business as if they hadn't heard him, he smiled, "Well, because it comes from an animal."

"But it's not an unnatural thing, is it?" Speedy pressed. "I know cows get sick if they're not milked and eggs..." he glanced at him "Well, chickens naturally lay eggs, it's not like you're killing the chicken to get her to lay the eggs, right?"

"Well, no," Beast Boy admitted, "But you are killing the little baby chick that would have hatched from the egg if left alone."

Speedy stopped and looked down at the orangey-yellow mixture, "Oh, dude..." he said, making a face, "I never thought of it that way."

Sensing he might have hit a spot of conversion with someone, Beast Boy brightened and prepared to launch into his vegetarian spiel when Speedy shrugged and continued whisking. Beast Boy's face fell.

Speedy grinned at Beast Boy's disappointment momentarily. "Hey, look dude, think of it this way..." Speedy raised the fork and the yellowish mixture of eggs and milk fell back into the bowl, "Population control."

Beast Boy looked horrified which only made Speedy laugh all the harder.

"That is so wrong!" Beast Boy declared.

"Schnookums, ready with the onions yet?" Speedy called over his shoulder to Raven at the cutting board.

"If you want to live, you'll try that again," Raven's deadpan came, the rest of her apparently oblivious.

Speedy grinned at Beast Boy, "Raven," he said pointedly, "Have you finished slicing the onions yet, my darling?"

Raven sighed audibly and her dark energy floated a bowl full of diced onions within Speedy's reach. "I'm working on the peppers now."

"Thank you, baby," he replied sweetly, to which Raven snorted delicately but continued her work.

"Cy, how are them spuds coming?" he called over his other shoulder.

"Just about done, I think," Cy called back.

Speedy left the whisking and went to the stove where Cy was carefully frying up a lot of fries cut up into small squares. They were still yellowish and not yet golden, so Speedy patted Cy's shoulder, "Give 'em a little while longer, they need to be golden."

"Got it," Cy answered.

Speedy took the bowl with Raven's sliced onions and gently poured them into the oil where Cy had the potatoes. "Let these cook a little with the fries," he told him.

"No prob," Cyborg saluted with the spatula.

Speedy came back to the counter and looked at Robin full on. "Mornin' Rob," he greeted. "Come to join us for brunch?"

"What are you making?" Robin asked, rather than answer.

"Speedy's showing us how to make a Spanish Omelet," Cyborg told him.

"How'd you learn to do this again?" Beast Boy asked.

"Mas and Menos..." Speedy laughed, "They've been teaching me tons about cooking, Latin style."

Raven came up next to him and handed him a bowl with a few diced peppers and he took them from her with a grin, pecking her casually on the cheek as he did.

He picked up the whisked egg mixture and poured in the peppers. "Alright, Cy, I think the spuds and the onions should be ready by now."

"Sure are," Cy replied.

"Remember to dry them," Speedy reminded as he whisked, albeit more gently.

"I'm a drying machine," Cyborg informed him as he sifted the oil away from the fries and onions with a colander, then poured the fries onto a paper towel which he used to gently pat them of the excess oil.

Speedy looked up at Robin, "So, you care to try a slice of Spanish Omelet?" he asked. Speedy glanced back at the mixture as Raven handed him the salt and the ground pepper and he liberally doused it on, then he looked back at Robin. "Or, are you going to abandon us like Star?"

"Star's not here?" he asked, looking around.

"No," Raven answered. "She hasn't finished with her closet yet, she said." She met his eyes. "Apparently, there's an issue with the spacing of her shoes."

Robin saw the smile in her eyes, even if her lips weren't giving it up, and for a moment, he felt as if nothing had changed. He was smiling back when Speedy came up behind her and reached for a plate above her head, resting his hand casually on her back as he did so.

The smile slipped from his lips. "I have no plans," Robin answered the first question.

"So can we count you in?" Speedy asked.

Robin tried to blink away the thought of how suddenly he felt as if Speedy was asking him to stay for lunch in his house, not Robin's. "Well, yeah, if it's alright with you," Robin replied, somewhat sarcastically.

"Oh, it's fine!" Speedy said, "B's not going to eat, I forgot about the vegan thing with eggs, so we'll have plenty."

Before Robin could comment, Speedy took the fries and onions Cyborg handed him and poured them into the egg mixture as well, whisking it again, and gently mushing the potatoes a bit.

"Alright, lamby-kins, turn on the stove, would you?" he asked.

Speedy didn't turn around in time to see Raven approach him with the frying pan, ready to strike and Cyborg smoothly taking it from her hand before she could carry it out. But he turned in time to see Raven take the pan back from Cyborg and put it on the stove, adding the butter to it and watching it melt.

Speedy turned from Beast Boy to Cyborg and back again, "I take it she had a violent reaction to lamby-kins?" he asked.

Beast Boy was laughing too hard to speak, but managed to nod his head, emphatically.

Cyborg chuckled, "I'd say that's a _definite__no_ to lamby-kins."

Beast Boy noticed Robin's expression and decided to take it for confusion, "He keeps trying out different pet names for her but she doesn't seem very pleased with any of 'em."

"No, she wouldn't be," Robin answered, but not very loudly. He was having serious second thoughts about joining them for lunch.

"So what would you call her, then?" Speedy asked him, pausing a moment in reaching for a spatula.

"Raven," he answered.

Raven, purposefully not hearing the conversation between Robin and Speedy, looked up at her name. When Robin wasn't looking at her and obviously hadn't used her name to call her, she looked at Speedy.

"Figures," Speedy answered, that half grin still on his lips, "So cold."

"What does...?" Robin started, but was cut off by Raven herself.

"Butter's melted," she announced calmly.

"Ah, coming, Buttercup," Speedy called airily, turning with the mixture to the stove, effectively dismissing Robin by turning his back on him.

"If I _must_ have a nickname, why don't I just choose one?" Raven asked after her glare of death had no effect on the cooking Speedy.

"Because if you chose it, it wouldn't have any meaning," Speedy explained.

"I think you need to go on the darker end of the nickname spectrum, Speedy," Cyborg advised.

"Well," Speedy said pensively, "You've already got Dark-Girl and Goth Girl," he told Cyborg. "Sunshine brings an element of sarcasm that I don't feel suits you," Speedy told Raven, his attention on the pan and the way the omelet was hardening as it cooked. He looked at her, "I know no nickname will completely encompass everything you mean to me, but I can try to keep finding one, can't I?"

"Whoa...he's good," Beast Boy said to Cyborg.

"I think you need to turn the omelet now," was Raven's only response.

Speedy seemed entirely unaffected by her deadpan attempt to kill the mood. He simply lifted the skillet from off the stove and with an expert flip of his wrist, flipped the omelet over to cook on the other side.

She couldn't help it: she smiled. Even though it was gone almost as quickly as it came, Speedy caught it and grinned in return. She shook her head, "Show off," she told him, turning to find the plates.

"It's all in the wrists," Speedy said laughingly, his head turning towards Robin who was watching silently, the smile fading. "And in having excellent timing," he added, moving the pan so that the omelet wouldn't stick.

"Dude," Beast Boy said into the silence. "That actually smells pretty good."

Speedy laughed and waved the skillet under Beast Boy's nose. "It's the vegetables," he told him. "Why don't you try some?"

Beast Boy made a face. "Eeew."

Speedy laughed and shrugged. "Just remember population control, man," he laughed even harder when Beast Boy put a hand to his mouth and pretended to dry heave.

Raven walked away from the main part of the kitchen and busied herself placing plates on the table.

_x-x_

After everyone had praised Speedy's skill with the skillet (except Beast Boy who was munching on microwaved tofu), and they had all teased Raven about being a better prep cook than a cook cook, and Robin was just about ready to get up and leave rather than watch Speedy sitting next to Raven any longer, Speedy put down his fork in surprise.

"Oh," he said. "I almost forgot," he turned to Raven. "About tomorrow..." he paused to take a drink of orange juice and wipe at his mouth and if Robin hadn't been watching Raven, he would have missed the way her eyes grazed his face before wiping at her own mouth.

"I'll be in Gotham tomorrow," she announced. She glanced at him, then back at her plate, then back at him.

"Ah," Speedy said, obviously surprised.

"I just found out a little while ago myself," she said, studiously ignoring the way the entire table had gone silent. She glanced at Robin again and turned to Speedy. "Robin asked me to join him on an errand," she added, and Robin frowned for a moment, wondering if it was just him or if Raven sounded slightly like she was challenging Speedy to argue.

"Ok," Speedy said after a moment, glancing at Robin only for a moment.

"You can try to beat Beast Boy's score on the Game Station," she said, off-handedly.

Beast Boy laughed. "Tch-yeah, he can _try_!"

Speedy smiled automatically at him, then laughed. "Actually, what I was going to say was that I had to go back to Steel City tomorrow," he said. He looked at her.

"Tomorrow?" she asked, obviously surprised.

"I have a court appearance in City Hall," he explained. "But it shouldn't take all day or anything," he added. "I was going to ask you to come with me and we could spend the day there," he smiled at her. "But if you've got plans..." he shrugged. "I guess I'll see you when I get back."

She nodded. "Alright," she said, and started to put a piece of omelet into her mouth, stopping when the fork was halfway to her lips. "When do you leave?"

"Early tomorrow morning," he answered. "But don't think that means you get to play hermit tonight," he said, the smirk back on his lips.

She raised her brows. "Another club?" she asked.

He smiled. "Whatever you want to do."

"Except play hermit?"

He smiled at her and gave up on his brunch, even if there was still a small bit of omelet left. "Exactly."

She shook her head and decided she was done herself.

"I'll just put these in the dishwasher and we can go," Speedy said.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead?" Cyborg asked from his chair. "Me and Beast Boy will clean up, won't we?" he looked at Beast Boy, then back to Speedy, without waiting for Beast Boy to confirm his statement. "After all, you cooked."

"That's nice of you," Speedy said. "Thanks!" he stacked his plate with Raven's and stood. "Ready to go Mookie?"

She stood and looked at him, unabashedly confused. "Mookie?" she questioned.

He laughed. "What, you don't like it?" he watched her walk away. "I thought I'd make one up!" he called after her.

He smirked at the table and went after her.

By the time he caught up with her in the elevator, the smile had faltered. "So he finally got up the balls to ask you out, huh?"

Raven looked at him. "He hates going back to Gotham, so I usually go with him when he goes," she only half-lied. She knew it wasn't _Gotham_ per se that he didn't like going to alone, but Speedy didn't need to know that. "It's like a tradition, almost."

They reached the garage levels, and although she got out, he didn't and she turned back to look at him. "A tradition," he said, stepping out and stopping when he was next to her. "Okay," he said in the tone that clearly meant he wasn't going to argue with her. It wasn't until he turned to help her onto the motorcycle that he spoke again. "You know," he said and his tone was serious. "There's going to come a time when I'm going to stop pointing out the obvious and take advantage of your obliviousness," he warned.

She rose a brow. When he didn't appear to be forthcoming with any further information, she took his hand and leaned on it as she straddled the back of the motorcycle. "Yeah, I know," she told him. "Friday _is_ the last day of the week I promised you, isn't it?"

_x~x_

Later, as the people around them started to stir; standing and shaking off sand from bodies and blankets and the two man stage crew with the dark shirts started to pick up the props from the shell-like stage, Speedy turned to Raven with an amazed sort of grin on his face.

Raven, for her part, hadn't begun to move yet - she was leaning back on the palms of her hands, head thrown back, staring at the moon.

For a moment, he was struck with her beauty like a physical force pushing against his chest and the breath he'd taken to speak stuck in his throat. She must have realized that he was staring at her, however, because she raised her head and turned her gaze to him, meeting his eyes and waiting. He cleared his throat and went with the thought he'd intended on sharing before he looked at her. "I had no idea there were things like these going on," he said, his voice not quite as playful as he would've wanted it to be.

Her lips quirked upward in a flash of a smile before she sat up, dusting the sand from her hands. "You sound as if you think someone's been pulling a fast one on you, Roy," she commented, her voice as dry as ever.

He straightened his back and put on an air of offense. "They have!" he insisted. At the clear disbelief on her features, he frowned. "You look as if you don't believe that I'd want to come," he pointed out.

She was very obviously amused, even if it was all in the press of her lips and her eyes. "I don't," she confirmed.

He sniffed, "I'm offended."

"You're also not the type to want to watch any kind of musical theatre - let alone a local abridged production of _Annie_," Raven pointed out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said primly. "I enjoy all manner of varied diversions, including musical theatre." At her raised brow, he narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice," he insisted. "I do."

"Really?" she asked. "You know that just because porn has music in the background, it doesn't make it a musical, don't you?"

Speedy crossed his arms at his chest, and pointedly looked away from her. "I won't deign that with an answer."

She allowed him a smirk and stood with all the graceful agility she displayed in every one of her movements. "Suit yourself," she said, dusting off the sand from the backs of her jeans.

"And anyway," Speedy continued, standing as well, "It isn't like you're the type to watch _Annie_ of all things, either, you know."

She met his eyes again and nodded, "Point taken," she conceded.

Glad to have made a point, he walked with her the way they came, along the shoreline, toward the portion of the boardwalk beyond which he'd parked his bike, absently swinging his boots from the tips of his fingers. "So, how long have you liked coming to these things?" he asked.

"These things as in musical theatre in general or the local drama club's beachside performances?"

"Theatre, in general."

"About four years now, I suppose," she answered.

"So, since about the time you came to Jump then?" he asked. She nodded, looking straight ahead. "So, how did you get to like it?" he pressed. "I doubt it's something you came across in the Tower," he chuckled at the thought.

She exhaled in what might have been an amused sound. "No, not in the Tower," she admitted. "The club that we saw put on performances every week during the summer," she told him. "They do all types of different theatre - sometimes musicals, sometimes slapstick, sometimes Shakespeare," she shrugged. "They even did Kabuki one year."

"That's the Japanese style theatre with the people with all the white faces and stuff, right?" he asked.

She glanced at him, obviously amused at his description. "That's close enough, yes," she allowed.

He grinned. "So you saw them performing four years ago?" he prompted.

"I did," she confirmed. "They've been doing the theatre for years here," she explained. "Of course, it's not always the same performers, or even the same level of quality - they're student run performances, mostly as a type of homework and practice."

"How did you ever find it?" he asked. "I mean, I'd have never even guessed something like this went on."

She was quiet for a while, and he thought she might have decided she'd shared enough about herself, but just as the surf shop he'd used as a signpost of where they'd parked came into view in the distance, she spoke. "When I first came to Earth, I knew very little about this culture," she admitted, looking down at her bare feet walking in the sand for a minute. "And at first, I didn't think about getting to know any of the culture either," she added. "I had a mission, and I was only here to fulfill it, not to enjoy myself," she explained. "But one day, after I'd been with the Titans for about four months, Robin explained to me why he allowed the Titans to have downtime and to fool around with their gamestations and arcade outings and goings to the carnival and pizza joints."

"Which is?" Speedy asked, sincerely curious.

She glanced at him, surprised at his question. "So that they can remember that they're people too, not just heroes," she answered.

"With the way he trains you guys, I would think he'd want to remind you that you're heroes first, people second," Speedy mused.

Raven shook her head. "It's always been important to Robin that we remember that we're both," she said. "I didn't understand why at first," she confessed. "Not even when he explained that it was having these things that we liked to do, these seemingly childish or meaningless pursuits that kept us from losing ourselves to the darkness we see and face every day."

Speedy was quiet for a moment, feeling - once again - how very fit Robin was for his position as team leader, and trying very hard not to react to the note of admiration he heard in her voice when she spoke about him in these terms. "But you understand now?" he asked.

She shrugged, infinitesimally. "I didn't understand then, though," she admitted. "Then, I understood that he was telling me that I should find a hobby, something that I liked to do other than meditate or learn things that I needed to know to accomplish my mission."

She smiled a little, to herself, and Speedy knew it wasn't for him. "He was my leader, though," she continued to explain. "So, I went out in search of a hobby."

Speedy couldn't help but smile, even if it wasn't altogether a happy smile. "Of course." Of course Robin would encourage her to find things she enjoyed.

"So, one day, I came to the beach - this beach - and it just so happened to be during one of the drama club's performances," she looked up at him. "They were performing _My Fair Lady_, and the girl playing Eliza was singing, _"__Wouldn't It Be Lovely__."_

Speedy grinned. "And you were hooked."

Her expression softened. "I was..." she hesitated and looked at her feet again, "...intrigued," she said.

He stopped at the entrance from beach to boardwalk and met her eyes. "And you have Robin to thank for it," he said, his tone unreadable.

He could see in the slight furrow of her brow and the way she pressed her lips together that she was confused, probably at his tone, and trying to figure out what he might mean. Before she thought of what to say, however, he smiled and spoke again. "So, what's your favorite type of theatre, then?" he asked. He stepped onto the boardwalk, sitting on the divider to put on his boots.

Raven dusted off the soles of her feet and slipped on her flats. "I like them all, really," she answered. She seemed to be willing to let his previous comment go. "They have different things they bring to the stage."

"Have you ever gone to see a full-out stage performance?" he asked. "You know, like in Gotham or Los Angeles?"

She shook her head. "No time for the travel," she answered. "This is simpler."

Something about her expression warned him against pressing the issue. "And you always come alone?" he asked, before he had even decided he wanted to know.

She nodded, looking out as the surf came in on the shore. As if snapping herself out of her thoughts, she blinked and looked right at him. "As you implied," she said, "I doubt anyone at the Tower would be interested in amateur musical theatre."

He knew what he was going to ask next, and looked down, intent on tying up the laces of his boots even though he could've done it blindfolded. "Not even Robin?"

For a few moments, he wasn't sure the warm, salty ocean breeze hadn't carried his question away.

"Robin knows I come here," she admitted.

Her admission caught him off guard and he could feel the surprise on his expression as he looked up at her. "And he's never wanted to come with you?"

She shrugged again. "He's never asked to."

Speedy grit his teeth at what he knew had been left unsaid in her deceptively simple and straightforward statement. '_The stupid fuck_,' Speedy cursed mentally, really angry and annoyed at Robin for the first time since they'd become friends. _'Why would he let her think he doesn't care about her - that he doesn't even care enough to come with her to a play so she won't have to come alone?'_ he wondered. _'He doesn't deserve her,'_ he decided. He's too stupid to go after what he wants and he lets his indecision or doubt hurt her - he doesn't deserve her. He knew that...but he also knew that Raven loved him. One look at her face as she spoke about him and he knew that.

"You never asked him to, did you?" Speedy asked. He'd hate himself for still trying later, he knew that for sure, but if she'd be happy...

For a moment, it seemed that epiphany had struck, but then a wall seemed to come over her expression and whatever else was going on in that mind of hers, she wasn't letting Speedy in on it. "I didn't ask you," she pointed out, glancing at him as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

He laughed, but it wasn't entirely mirthful. He couldn't believe he was doing this...

"Yeah, but not every guy is as stupidly optimistic or persistent as I am, Rae," he told her, hoping he'd kept his voice light and playful. It didn't even occur to him to point out that they were playing a role here until after he'd already insinuated the other reason he'd wanted to spend time with her. He waited with bated breath, to see if she picked up on it. When she didn't seem to get it, he pressed. "I think that's been your problem the whole time," he decided aloud. "Both of you are waiting for the other to make some kind of obvious overture and both of you are too chicken shit to do it."

She looked out across the boardwalk to the colorful shops on the other side and didn't answer.

"Oh wait," Speedy said, suddenly remembering. "I forgot, he already has, hasn't he?" When she looked at him, he met her eyes, trying to keep the smile in his expression. "He asked you to Gotham tomorrow."

Raven shook her head. "I told you," she started.

"Yeah, yeah, tradition," Speedy waved her expected explanation off. "If I were really Robin's friend, I'd tell him you won't believe he's interested until he pulls a Rhett Butler and carries you off to the bedroom," he muttered, half-under his breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

He shook his head, then looked at her with a grin in place. "Feel like going for an ice cream?" he asked, motioning to an ice cream parlor a few feet down the boardwalk.

She looked at where he'd pointed for a moment before shaking her head. "It's late," she said instead. "We should probably get back." She looked at him.

"Right," he nodded and led her to his bike without further comment.

x-x

**A/N: **So, I'll admit something. Part of the next chapter is written. But that's it. I don't actually know what Robin needs to do in Gotham, or what I'm going to have them do while they're there...so...yeah...any ideas?


End file.
